[IAUC] CBET 2775: 20110802 : COMET C/2011 O1 (LINEAR)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 2775
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/2011 O1 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered by the LINEAR survey (discovery
observation tabulated below), and posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP
webpage, has been found by other CCD astrometrists to show cometary appearance.
L. Buzzi (Varese, Italy, 0.38-m f/6.8 reflector) writes that stacked images
taken in good seeing on July 31.9 UT show the object to be diffuse with a coma
of size 8"-9" that is elongated in p.a. around 45 deg.  H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan;
remotely using a 0.51-m f/4.5 reflector at the RAS Observatory near Mayhill,
NM, U.S.A.) reports a condensed coma of diameter 10" of total red mag 16.5 in
a 4".9 circular aperture, with no tail visible, on Aug. 1.2.  R. H. McNaught
(Siding Spring Observatory, 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope) notes that the
comet is in a dense star field but shows a coma of diameter about 12"
(magnitude 16.9) on Aug. 1.5.

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     July 31.16245   17 18 31.78   -16 51 10.3   17.6   LINEAR

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements
by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2011-P03.

     T = 2012 July 23.5028 TT         Peri. = 222.9903
                                      Node  =  89.2325  2000.0
     q = 4.352910 AU                  Incl. =  79.8861


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
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                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 August 2                    (CBET 2775)              Daniel W. E. Green