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IAUC 9248: P/2011 Y2

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                                                  Circular No. 9248
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
New postal address:  Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
CBATIAU@EPS.HARVARD.EDU           ISSN 0081-0304
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET P/2011 Y2 (BOATTINI)
     A. Boattini reports his discovery of a comet on CCD images
taken with the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector (discovery observations
tabulated below), the object described as having a very condensed
5" coma and no sign of a tail in 3" seeing.  After posting on the
Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have
also commented on the object's cometary appearance.  Stacked images
taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore, IL, USA; 0.61-m astrograph; measured
by L. Buzzi, H. Devore, S. Foglia, and T. Vorobjov) on Dec. 25.1 UT
show a round 10" coma; follow-up images taken by Holmes on Dec.
26.0 show a 10" coma with a slight elongation in p.a. 135 deg.
Stacked images taken by Luca Buzzi (Varese, Italy; 0.38-m f/6.8
reflector) on Dec. 25.8 show an 8" coma slightly elongated in p.a.
140 deg.  H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan; remotely using a 0.43-m reflector
at the RAS Observatory, Nerpio, Spain, on Dec. 25.8) found a 10"
coma in stacked images; he measured magnitude V = 19.7 in a
circular aperture of radius 4".2.  Co-added mages taken by P. Bacci,
L. Tesi, and G. Fagioli with a 0.60-m reflector at San Marcello
Pistoiese, Italy, on Dec. 27.7 show a diffuse coma of diameter 14"
elongated in p.a. 103 deg.

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Dec. 24.12799    0 17 37.71   +10 19 53.8   19.4   Boattini
          24.13492    0 17 38.22   +10 19 56.1   19.4     "
          24.14186    0 17 38.68   +10 19 58.3   19.2     "
          24.14876    0 17 39.19   +10 20 00.3   19.3     "
          24.18620    0 17 41.82   +10 20 10.9   19.6     "
          24.19153    0 17 42.18   +10 20 12.3   19.1     "
          24.19693    0 17 42.54   +10 20 14.1   19.8     "
          24.20221    0 17 42.90   +10 20 15.5   19.8     "

The available astrometry -- including prediscovery Mt. Lemmon
observations from Oct. 30, as well as Pan-STARRS observations from
Sept. 4 (giving the mag as 22.3-22.6) and Spacewatch observations
from Oct. 16 (mag 20.5-20.8) -- together with the following orbital
elements by G. V. Williams and an ephemeris, appear on MPEC
2011-Y49.

                    Epoch = 2012 Mar. 14.0 TT
     T = 2012 Mar. 21.7042 TT         Peri. = 131.1846
     e = 0.712545                     Node  = 310.0120  2000.0
     q = 1.787393 AU                  Incl. =   6.3519
       a =  6.217997 AU    n = 0.0635665    P =  15.50 years

                      (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 December 31               (9248)            Daniel W. E. Green

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