[IAUC] CBET 3099: 20120502 : COMET C/2012 H2 (McNAUGHT)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3099
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 H2 (McNAUGHT)
     R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a circular, diffuse comet of
diameter about 0'.3 on CCD images obtained in poor seeing with the 0.5-m
Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring (discovery observations tabulated
below).  His follow-up observations on May 1.36 UT show the FWHM of the comet's
image to be about 1".2 larger than nearby stars.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Apr. 29.37018    5 37 21.63   -48 27 52.3   18.6   McNaught
          29.38706    5 37 27.38   -48 27 26.2   18.7     "
          29.40509    5 37 33.60   -48 26 58.0   18.3     "
          29.41891    5 37 38.40   -48 26 37.0   18.6     "
          29.42420    5 37 40.26   -48 26 29.3   18.6     "

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an orbit appear on MPEC 2012-J11.

     T = 2012 May 4.7007 TT           Peri. = 296.1618
                                      Node  = 183.5605  2000.0
     q = 1.734834 AU                  Incl. =  92.7968


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 May 2                       (CBET 3099)              Daniel W. E. Green