[IAUC] CBET 3010: 20120203 : COMET P/2011 VJ5 (LEMMON)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3010
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 VJ5 (LEMMON)
     R. E. Hill reported his finding a comet with a coma diameter of about
6"-8", no well-defined nuclear condensation, and a narrow tail 12"-14" long in
p.a. 280 deg on four co-added 30-s CCD exposures taken in seeing of about 3"-4"
with the Catalina Sky Survey's 0.68-m Schmidt telescope (astrometry tabulated
below).  Hill's four co-added 60-s exposures taken as follow-up on Feb. 1.5 UT
show a coma about 8" across with a tiny nuclear condensation of diameter about
2"-3" and a tail 14"-16" long in p.a. 280 deg; his additional images taken on
Feb. 2.5 show a 3"-4" nuclear condensation with little coma and a narrow tail
12"-14" long in poor seeing with thin haze.  Follow-up CCD images taken by
A. R. Gibbs with the Mt. Lemmon 1.5-m reflector on Feb. 1.52 show a starlike
central condensation and a thin tail 90" long (width 7") in p.a. 114 deg in
four co-added 45-s exposures.  After posting the object on the Minor Planet
Center's NEOCP webpage now, other CCD astrometrists also have remarked on the
object's cometary appearance.  Stacked R-band images taken remotely by A.
Tripp, G. Sostero, N. Howes, and E. Guido with the 2.0-m f/10 "Faulkes
Telescope North" at Haleakala on Feb. 1.6 in good seeing show a compact coma
nearly 3" in diameter with a sharp central condensation and a tail about 20"
long in p.a. 292 deg.  Forty-five co-added 30-s images taken by R. Holmes, T.
Linder, and V. Hoette with a 0.41-m f/11 Ritchey-Chretien telescope at Cerro
Tololo on Feb. 2.4 show a coma of diameter about 3".6 with a faint, narrow
tail 10".5 long in p.a. 284 deg.
     T. Spahr, Minor Planet Center, noted that this object appears identical
to an apparently asteroidal object discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey on
Nov. 3 (observer R. Kowalski; discovery observations tabulated below) and
then designated 2011 VJ5 after having been posted on the NEOCP in November
(with observations 2011 Nov. 3.5-5.1 having been published on MPS 398699).

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Nov.  3.46432    9 29 05.82   +10 31 53.2   20.2   Kowalski
           3.47189    9 29 07.11   +10 31 47.0   20.5     "
           3.47954    9 29 08.34   +10 31 40.8   20.3     "
           3.48711    9 29 09.60   +10 31 34.2   20.3     "

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Feb.  1.47162   12 42 28.40   - 5 57 07.2          Hill
           1.47669   12 42 28.80   - 5 57 08.4   18.5     "
           1.48181   12 42 29.01   - 5 57 08.2            "
           1.48687   12 42 29.19   - 5 57 09.5            "
           1.49286   12 42 29.48   - 5 57 10.2            "
           1.49888   12 42 29.91   - 5 57 10.6            "
           1.50488   12 42 30.20   - 5 57 10.2   18.5     "
           1.51098   12 42 30.60   - 5 57 11.4            "

The new astrometry, the following elliptical orbital elements by G. V.
Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-C14.

                    Epoch = 2011 Dec. 25.0 TT
     T = 2011 Dec.  8.7004 TT         Peri. = 315.1262
     e = 0.555652                     Node  = 169.9789  2000.0
     q = 1.505907 AU                  Incl. =   3.9721
       a =  3.389031 AU    n = 0.1579759    P =   6.24 years


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                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 February 3                  (CBET 3010)              Daniel W. E. Green