[IAUC] IAUC 9209: C/2011 J3; C/2002 VQ_94 = C/2011 H1 [25139-2011/04-R1]

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                                                  Circular No. 9209
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
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET C/2011 J3 (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 to show
cometary appearance by other CCD astrometrists.  W. H. Ryan
(Magdalena Ridge Observatory, 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector) reports that
the object was of mag 18.8-19.0 and fuzzy with respect to field
stars, even in poor seeing conditions on R-band images taken on May
17.3 UT.  G. Hug (Scranton, KS, U.S.A., 0.56-m reflector) finds the
object to be diffuse out to a diameter of about 10", with little
condensation, on images from May 17.3.  H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan;
remotely using a 0.50-m f/4.5 reflector at the RAS Observatory near
Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; May 17.4) also finds the object to be diffuse
and poorly condensed, with a 10" coma (red mag 18.7).  G. Sostero
and E. Guido write that 34 stacked 60-s unfiltered CCD images,
obtained remotely on May 18.4 with a 0.4-m f/9 reflector located at
the Tzec Maun Observatory (also near Mayhill), shows a very diffuse
coma nearly 12" in diameter with an extremely uncertain central
condensation that hampers precise astrometric measurements.  L.
Elenin (Lyubertsy, Russia) finds a 17" tail in p.a. 150 deg on
twenty stacked 60-s exposures taken on May 19.3 remotely with a
0.45-m f/2.8 astrograph at the ISON-NM Observatory near Mayhill.
L. Buzzi (Varese, Italy, 0.60-m reflector, May 19.93-19.95) finds a
clearly diffuse, round 10" coma with no tail in a crowded star
field.  E. Bryssinck's stacked images (obtained remotely with a
0.4-m reflector at Tzec Maun on May 20.3) show a coma diameter of
17".

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     May  14.38293   20 55 11.99   +57 03 03.5   19.7   LINEAR

The available astrometry, the following orbital elements by G. V.
Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2011-K11.

                    Epoch = 2011 Feb.  8.0 TT
     T = 2011 Jan. 21.2002 TT         Peri. =  24.8074
     e = 0.884001                     Node  =  21.9722  2000.0
     q = 1.399052 AU                  Incl. = 114.8094
       a = 12.060891 AU    n = 0.0235307    P =  41.9 years


COMET C/2002 VQ_94 = C/2011 H1 (LINEAR)
     The name associated with C/2011 H1 on IAUC 9206 is being
abandoned, due to the belated identification of this comet.

                      (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 May 20                    (9209)            Daniel W. E. Green