[IAUC] IAUC 8805: COMET C/2007 C1 (CHRISTENSEN); C/2006 U14, C/2006 U15, C/2006 U16 [25139-2007/05-R1]

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                                                  Circular No. 8805
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
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COMET C/2007 C1 (CHRISTENSEN)
     E. J. Christensen reports his discovery of a comet on CCD
images taken with the Catalina Sky Survey's 0.68-m Schmidt
telescope (discovery observation tabulated below), the object
displaying a 12"-15" coma, slightly elongated toward p.a. 240 deg
on four co-added 30-s exposures obtained in average seeing and
light cirrus.  Christensen adds that four co-added 60-s exposures
on Feb. 10.2 UT in average seeing show a 10" coma and 15" tail in
p.a. 250 deg.  Following posting on the Minor Planet Center's
'NEOCP' webpage, G. Sostero and E. Guido write that thirty
co-added 180-s unfiltered CCD exposures taken on Feb. 10.05-10.09
with a 0.45-m f/4.4 reflector at Remanzacco, Italy, show a compact
coma 12" in diameter and a short tail 16" long toward p.a. 260 deg.

     2007 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Feb.  9.28032   10 16 07.17   +27 03 13.4   18.8

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2007-C50.  It is
possible that this comet is of short period.

     T = 2007 June  3.159 TT          Peri. = 185.355
                                      Node  =  27.726   2000.0
     q = 1.42180 AU                   Incl. =   9.092


COMETS C/2006 U14, C/2006 U15, C/2006 U16 (SOHO)
     Additional Kreutz sungrazing comets have been found on SOHO
website images (cf. IAUC 8788).  K. Battams notes that C/2006 U14
was stellar in appearance and of mag about 7 in C3 images, while it
appeared "condensed" and small in C2 images.  C/2006 U15 was very
small, faint, and a little diffuse.  C/2006 U16 (which was
independently reported by T. Chen, H. Su, and R. Kracht) was
stellar in appearance and very faint (mag about 8).

 Comet        2006 UT       R.A.(2000)Decl.   Inst.  F    MPEC
 C/2006 U14   Oct. 28.096  13 57.5   -14 42   C3/2   HS   2007-B37
 C/2006 U15        28.329  14 04.5   -14 15   C2     LC   2007-B37
 C/2006 U16        30.604  14 13.9   -15 05   C2     TC   2007-B37

                      (C) Copyright 2007 CBAT
2007 February 10               (8805)            Daniel W. E. Green