[IAUC] CBET 3251: 20121009 : COMET P/2012 SB_6 (LEMMON)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3251
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/2012 SB_6 (LEMMON)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered on images taken by R. A.
Kowalski in the course of the Mount Lemmon Survey (discovery observations
tabulated below), and designated 2012 SB_6 by the Minor Planet Center, has
been found to show cometary appearance by observers elsewhere.  Henry Hsieh
notes that images taken with the Pan-STARRS1 telescope on Oct. 8.42-8.49 UT
show a point-spread function that is extended relative to the PSF of nearby
field stars.  David J. Tholen and Marco Micheli write that three 120-s
follow-up images taken on Oct. 9.5 UT by Micheli and Garrett T. Elliott
with the 2.24-m University of Hawaii reflector at Mauna Kea show a tail
about 7" long in p.a. about 225 deg.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Sept.17.42391    1 06 54.79   + 6 46 42.9   19.3   Kowalski
          17.43255    1 06 54.50   + 6 46 44.4   19.3     "
          17.44119    1 06 54.10   + 6 46 45.5   19.1     "
          17.44980    1 06 53.82   + 6 46 46.8   19.1     "

The available astrometry (including prediscovery Catalina Sky Survey images
from Sept. 14), the following elliptical orbital elements by G. V. Williams,
and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-T33.

                    Epoch = 2012 Nov.  9.0 TT
     T = 2012 Oct. 31.3758 TT         Peri. =  12.6072
     e = 0.384607                     Node  =   9.5539  2000.0
     q = 2.406080 AU                  Incl. =  10.9809
       a =  3.909829 AU    n = 0.1274874    P =   7.73 years


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 October 9                   (CBET 3251)              Daniel W. E. Green