[IAUC] IAUC 8737: C/2006 P1; C/1998 J5; P/2006 HR_30 [25139-2007/05-R1]

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                                                  Circular No. 8737
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS en CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT en CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET C/2006 P1 (McNAUGHT)
     R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a comet (discovery
observation tabulated below) on CCD images obtained with the 0.5-m
Uppsala Schmidt telescope in the course of the Siding Spring Survey,
noting the object to have a faint 20"-diameter coma in moonlight.
Following posting on the 'NEO Confirmation Page', C. Jacques and E.
Pimentel report that CCD images obtained at Belo Horizonte, Brazil,
with a 0.30-m f/3 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector on Aug. 8.0 UT show
a coma diameter of 16".

     2006 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Aug.  7.50872   16 38 58.70   -18 05 46.3   17.3

The available astrometry, the following very preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2006-P31.

     T = 2007 June 17.713 TT          Peri. = 109.726
                                      Node  = 268.367   2000.0
     q = 1.55508 AU                   Incl. = 143.691


COMET C/1998 J5 (SOHO)
     Further to IAUC 8735, the following Kreutz-sungrazing archival
SOHO comet was diffuse, elongated, and very faint.

 Comet        1998 UT      R.A.(2000)Decl.   Inst.  F    MPEC
 C/1998 J5    May 12.227   3 17.5   +16 46   C2     HS   2006-L20


COMET P/2006 HR_30 (SIDING SPRING)
     Further to IAUC 8735, J. Licandro, Isaac Newton Group and
Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias; and N. Pinilla and M. Pedani,
Centro Galileo Galilei, report that comet P/2006 HR_30 shows no
evidence of a coma on R-band images obtained on July 26.10 UT with
the 3.6-m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo at La Palma; six co-added
60-s images show the comet as point-like (FWHM 1"; ellipticity of
0.06, nearly equal to that of the surrounding stars).  D. T. Durig
(Sewanee, TN, 0.30-m reflector) writes that images obtained on Aug.
4.20-4.28 show a slight asymmetry or tail about 10" long in p.a.
5-10 deg, and P. C. Sherrod (Conway, AR, 0.41-m reflector) notes
that the comet showed some nebulosity toward the north on images
taken on Aug. 4.4.

                      (C) Copyright 2006 CBAT
2006 August 8                  (8737)            Daniel W. E. Green