[IAUC] IAUC 9235: P/2010 TO20 [25139-2012/04-R1]

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Circular No. 9235
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
New postal address:  Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
CBATIAU en EPS.HARVARD.EDU           ISSN 0081-0304
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-GRAUER)
     A. D. Grauer reports the discovery of a comet on CCD images
obtained with the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector (discovery
observation tabulated below); the object was described from four
stacked 60-s unfiltered frames as being diffuse with a 6"-10" coma
and a fan-shaped tail 20"-25" long in p.a. 250 degrees.  After
posting on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, G. Sostero
writes that observations obtained by I. Melville, A. Kasprzyk, N.
Howes, E. Guido, and himself with the 2.0-m f/10 "Faulkes Telescope
South" at Siding Spring also show cometary appearance; six stacked
60-s R-band exposures taken in good seeing conditions on Oct. 19.6
UT show a sharp central condensation, a compact coma about 5" in
diameter, and a wide, fan-shaped tail at least 45" long toward p.a.
250 deg.  Five stacked 60-s R-band follow-up images taken by
Sostero, Howes, and Guido with the 2.0-m "Faulkes Telescope North"
at Haleakala on Oct. 20.4 again show a sharp central condensation,
a compact coma about 6" in diameter, and a tail at least 30" long
toward p.a. 247 deg.

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Oct. 19.33795    1 58 19.45   +11 16 39.2   19.1   Grauer
          19.39053    1 58 17.94   +11 16 32.1   19.2     "
          19.44946    1 58 16.20   +11 16 24.3   19.2     "

     After two nights of observations of Grauer's comet had been
received at the Minor Planet Center, T. Spahr realized that this
object was identical with an object discovered a year ago by the
LINEAR project (discovery observation tabulated below; cf. MPS
351583) that appeared to be a Jupiter Trojan minor planet.

     2010 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Oct.  1.30866   23 59 35.07   - 2 29 22.4   19.4   LINEAR
           1.34812   23 59 34.05   - 2 29 29.5   19.6     "

     The initial 2011 astrometry appeared on MPEC 2011-U41.  The
following revised elliptical orbital elements by G. V. Williams are
from 48 observations, 2010 Oct. 1-2011 Oct. 30 (mean residual 0".7):

                    Epoch = 2011 Aug. 27.0 TT
     T = 2008 Aug. 28.5354 TT         Peri. = 250.5272
     e = 0.091161                     Node  =  43.8916  2000.0
     q = 5.080872 AU                  Incl. =   2.6505
       a =  5.590511 AU    n = 0.0745636    P =  13.22 years


                      (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 November 9                (9235)            Daniel W. E. Green