[IAUC] CBET 2958: 20111228 : COMET P/2011 Y2 (BOATTINI)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 2958
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau en eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat en iau.org)
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 f/4.0 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 f/4.5 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 f/4 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


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 December 28                 (CBET 2958)              Daniel W. E. Green