[IAUC] CBET 2960: 20111229 : COMET C/2011 UF305 (LINEAR)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 2960
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 C/2011 UF305 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered by the LINEAR survey (discovery
observations tabulated below) that was posted on the Minor Planet Center's
NEOCP webpage (as CA68092) was inadvertently announced on MPEC 2011-V16 with a
minor-planet designation and an e-assumed orbit (P = 70 yr) despite a report by
H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan) that the object showed a diffuse coma 20" in diameter
(magnitude 17.6) on CCD images taken on Nov. 3.1 UT remotely with a 0.25-m
f/3.4 reflector at the RAS Observatory near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.  J. V. Scotti
(Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona) writes that Spacewatch
images taken by T. Bressi on Nov. 2.07 show a faint coma of diameter 7" with a
0'.14 tail in p.a. 98 degrees in a moderately crowded star field; co-added
images taken by Bressi on Nov. 3.09 show a 10" coma and a 0'.15 tail in p.a.
99 degrees.  Scotti's own images taken on Nov. 28.1 with the Spacewatch 1.8-m
f/2.7 reflector show the comet as very slightly diffuse.  Luca Buzzi (Varese,
Italy) notes that his images taken on Nov. 12.8 with a 0.60-m f/4.6 Newtonian
reflector show a coma around 7" x 5" in size, possibly elongated in the
east-west direction.  Fifty stacked 60-s images taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore,
IL, USA; 0.61-m f/4 astrograph; measured by L. Buzzi, H. Devore, S. Foglia,
and T. Vorobjov) on Dec. 1.0 show an 8" coma with a faint tail 15" long in
p.a. 120 deg.

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Oct. 31.07777   18 18 07.11   +14 57 04.1   18.1   LINEAR
          31.08995   18 18 07.39   +14 57 03.9   19.3     "
          31.10239   18 18 07.58   +14 57 03.9   18.4     "
          31.11472   18 18 07.79   +14 57 03.6   18.9     "
          31.12690   18 18 08.01   +14 57 03.1   18.6     "

The following hyperbolic orbital elements by G. V. Williams are from 94
observations, 2011 July 25-Dec. 16 (mean residual 0".4).  An ephemeris appears
on MPEC 2011-Y51.

                    Epoch = 2012 July 12.0 TT
     T = 2012 July 22.15150 TT        Peri. = 121.99323
     e = 1.0007164                    Node  = 297.43546 2000.0
     q = 2.1381146 AU                 Incl. =  93.96008


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 December 29                 (CBET 2960)              Daniel W. E. Green