[IAUC] IAUC 9010: 210P; 212P [25139-2009/08-R1]

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                                                  Circular No. 9010
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
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COMETS 210P/CHRISTENSEN AND 211P/HILL
     Comet P/2008 X4 = P/2003 K2 (Christensen; cf. IAUCs 9005, 9007,
9008) has been assigned the permanent designation 210P.  Comet
P/2008 X1 = P/2003 F6 (Hill; cf. IAUCs 9001, 9009) has been
assigned the permanent designation 211P.  See also MPC 64693.


COMET 212P/2000 YN_30 (NEAT)
     An apparent asteroidal object discovered by the NEAT survey
(the discovery observation tabulated below was originally assigned
the designation 2000 YN_30 and published on MPO 24160) was
recovered a few months ago with the 0.9-m Spacewatch reflector at
Kitt Peak (recovery observation also tabulated below; cf. MPEC
2008-V41 and MPO 263011) but only recently noted to show cometary
activity.  A. R. Gibbs reports that four co-added 60-s unfiltered
CCD exposures taken on 2009 Jan. 2.53 with the Catalina 0.68-m
Schmidt telescope show a compact coma 7" across with a narrow 35"
tail in p.a. 285 deg.  Y. C. Cheng and H. Y. Hsiao, Institute of
Astronomy, National Central University, Jhongli, Taiwan, report
that three 300-s R-band images obtained on Jan. 2.8 with the Lulin
1-m telescope show total mag 18.2-18.4 and a tail < 20" long in p.a.
290 deg.  J. V. Scotti writes that fifteen co-added exposures with
the Spacewatch 1.8-m reflector on Jan. 7.4 show an 8" coma and a
narrow tail extending at least 2'.2 in p.a. 283 deg; the tail's
width expands with distance from the nuclear condensation from
about 8" to 12" as it fades.

 Date      UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
 2000 Dec. 26.46926    4 19 20.45   + 6 03 33.1   20.4   NEAT
 2008 Oct. 30.48499    8 50 58.52   +15 37 57.6   20.5   Spacewatch

The following orbital elements by B. G. Marsden, Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory, from 69 observations, 2000-2009 (mean
residual 0".6), appear on MPC 64768 (with new observations on MPC
64748-64749).  The permanent designation 212P has been assigned to
this comet.

                    Epoch = 2008 Nov. 30.0 TT
     T = 2008 Dec.  3.2698 TT         Peri. =  15.0488
     e = 0.578876                     Node  =  98.9290  2000.0
     q = 1.654465 AU                  Incl. =  22.3979
       a =  3.928686 AU    n = 0.1265707    P =   7.79 years

                      (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2009 January 12                (9010)            Daniel W. E. Green