[IAUC] CBET 3020: 20120214 : COMET C/2012 CH_17 (MOSS)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3020
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/2012 CH_17 (MOSS)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovery reported by Claudine Rinner
(discovery observations tabulated below) on CCD images taken with a 0.5-m f/3
reflector in the course of the Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey (MOSS), operated
at a site 80 km south of Marrakesh by the Cadi Ayyad University -- and
assigned the minor-planet designation 2012 CH_17 by the Minor Planet Center,
with an initial orbit appearing on MPEC 2012-C43 (the "Daily Orbit Update" for
Feb. 12), with the object posted in the MPC's online lists of unusual objects
-- has been found to show cometary appearance by other CCD astrometrists.  H.
Sato (Tokyo, Japan, 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph; Feb. 12.93 UT) found a strongly
condensed coma 15" in diameter with a hint of a split tail 30" long toward
p.a. 225 and 315 degrees; the total V-band magnitude was 17.9 as measured
within a circular aperture of radius 7".5.  J. V. Scotti writes that stacked
60-s images obtained in heavy moonlight with the Spacewatch 1.8-m f/2.7
reflector (+ Schott OG-515 filter; bandpass 515-950 nm; 0".62/pixel; Feb.
13.45-13.46) show a coma diameter of 10" and a tail that extends 0'.33 in
p.a. 264 degrees.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Feb.  7.12218   11 43 11.55   +24 42 22.3   17.9   Rinner
           7.13634   11 43 11.36   +24 42 31.9   18.0     "
           7.15047   11 43 11.14   +24 42 42.8   18.3     "
           7.16462   11 43 10.82   +24 42 52.9   18.2     "
           8.18604   11 42 53.28   +24 55 19.7   18.4     "
           8.21014   11 42 52.89   +24 55 37.4   18.7     "
           8.23407   11 42 52.41   +24 55 54.9   18.7     "

The available astrometry (including prediscovery astrometry at Catalina from
Feb. 2), the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements by G. V.
Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-C48.

     T = 2012 Sept.28.0781 TT         Peri. = 138.0195
                                      Node  = 125.9444  2000.0
     q = 1.295714 AU                  Incl. =  27.7157


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 February 14                 (CBET 3020)              Daniel W. E. Green