[IAUC] IAUC 9232: P/2011 R3; C/2010 X1 [25139-2012/04-R1]

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                                                  Circular No. 9232
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
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Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET P/2011 R3 (NOVICHONOK-GERKE)
     First announced on CBET 2811, Artyom O. Novichonok reported
his discovery of a new comet (discovery observation tabulated
below) on six images taken by Vladimir V. Gerke (Moscow) during
Sept. 7.02-7.05 UT using a 0.4-m "Jigit" telescope at the TAU
station of the Ka-Dar Observatory (located near Nizhniy Arkhyz,
Russia), with the object showing a small, condensed coma of
diameter 12" and an obvious tail 0'.6 long in p.a. 261 deg.
Novichonok did not inform the Central Bureau of Gerke's involvement
at the time that CBET 2812 was issued, though the information had
been conveyed to the MPC; the IAU Committee on Small Body
Nomenclature has subsequently voted to add Gerke's name to the
comet's name.
     After posting on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage,
other CCD astrometrists have also noted cometary appearance in this
object.  N. Howes, G. Sostero, and E. Guido stacked six 60-s R-band
exposures taken on Sept. 8.4 with the the 2.0-m f/10 "Faulkes
Telescope North" at Haleakala, which show a sharp central
condensation in a coma that is nearly 4" in diameter, elongated
toward the southwest, with a broad tail at least 7" long toward p.a.
252 deg.  G. Hug (Scranton, KS, U.S.A.; 0.56-m reflector) reports a
well-defined narrow tail extending about 1' in p.a. 270 deg on his
images from Sept. 8.4 and 9.3.  T. H. Bressi used the Spacewatch
1.8-m f/2.7 reflector on Sept. 9.3 to find a tail 11" long in p.a.
5 deg.

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Sept. 7.02309    2 11 27.59   + 8 17 00.2   18.9   Gerke
           7.05031    2 11 27.51   + 8 16 51.6   19.1     "

The initial astrometry appears on MPC 75833.  Preliminary
elliptical orbital elements by G. V. Williams from 46 observations,
Sept. 7-9:  T = 2011 May 31.7978 TT, q = 3.584323 AU, e = 0.314838,
Peri. = 175.7604 deg, Node = 189.7951 deg, i = 18.1718 deg (equinox
2000.0), P = 11.96 years.


COMET C/2010 X1 (ELENIN)
     Amy Lovell, Agnes Scott College; and Ellen Howell, Arecibo
Observatory, report that an attempt to measure OH from the remains
of C/2010 X1 (cf. IAUC 9226) has yielded a 3-sigma upper limit of
Q(OH) < 3.0 x 10^(27) molecules/s, or log[Q(OH)] < 27.48.  In 5
hours of integration on Sept. 7, using the Robert W. Byrd 100-m
radiotelescope at Green Bank, the 1667-MHz OH line was not seen
using the 8' beam, with a 3-sigma upper limit of 5.6 mJy km/s.

                      (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 September 12              (9232)            Daniel W. E. Green