[IAUC] IAUC 9016: C/2009 B2; P/2008 Y1; P/2008 Y3 [25139-2009/08-R1]

[IAUC mailing list]

                                                  Circular No. 9016
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://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET C/2009 B2 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object that was discovered by the
LINEAR survey (discovery observation tabulated below) has been
found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere,
following posting on the Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage.  F.
Hormuth (Calar Alto 1.23-m reflector, Jan. 30.2 UT) writes that an
unfiltered, stacked, 600-s image shows a coma diameter of about 5"
and a short, faint tail of length about 10" in p.a. about 340 deg.
J. Young (Table Mountain 0.61-m f/16 Cassegrain reflector, Jan.
31.50-31.55) notes a coma of diameter 8" with a small bright area
slightly southeast of a broad and very short extension spanning p.a.
310-340 deg.  R. S. McMillan (0.9-m f/3 Spacewatch reflector, Jan.
31.5; apparent independent discovery) reports a short 8" tail
toward the north.

     2009 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Jan. 29.47388   14 50 27.51   -15 38 30.9   19.4   LINEAR

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic
orbital elements by B. G. Marsden, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC
2009-B91.

     T = 2009 Mar. 10.773 TT          Peri. = 193.959
                                      Node  =  18.905   2000.0
     q = 2.32776 AU                   Incl. = 156.994


COMET P/2008 Y1 (BOATTINI)
     Additional astrometry has shown that this comet (cf. IAUC 9007)
is of short period, the following orbital elements taken from MPEC
2009-B62:

     T = 2009 Feb. 25.1897 TT         Peri. = 162.4578
     e = 0.732532                     Node  = 259.7532  2000.0
     q = 1.270613 AU                  Incl. =   8.8036
       a =  4.750529 AU    n = 0.0951900    P =  10.35 years


COMET P/2008 Y3 (McNAUGHT)
     Additional astrometry has shown that this comet (cf. IAUC 9009)
is of short period; the following orbital elements were published
on MPC 64767:  Epoch = 2009 Jan. 9.0 TT, T = 2009 Jan. 11.9366 TT,
e = 0.447539, q = 4.434228 AU, Peri. = 238.2745 deg, Node =
262.9356 deg, i = 38.8137 deg (equinox 2000.0), P = 22.74 years.

                      (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2009 January 31                (9016)            Daniel W. E. Green