Comet P/2003 KV_2 (LINEAR)

Another apparently asteroidal LINEAR object (discovery observation below), announced on MPEC 2003-K27 as 2003 KV_2 (see also MPEC 2003-K38 and 2003-K47), has been found cometary on R-band images taken by C. Brinkworth and M. Burleigh on May 28.9 and 29.9 UT with the 1-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on La Palma (communicated by A. Fitzsimmons), in which the object shows a tail about 4"-5" long in p.a. 125 deg and a small coma that is somewhat larger than the surrounding field stars. 2003 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m2 May 23.16257 10 52 41.18 +37 50 29.1 18.4 Additional astrometry and the following orbital elements appear on MPEC 2003-K53. This orbit shows a passage 0.55 AU from Jupiter in Jan. 2001, before which the perihelion distance was somewhat larger. T = 2003 July 10.882 TT Peri. = 188.789 e = 0.62667 Node = 66.478 2000.0 q = 1.06234 AU Incl. = 25.501 a = 2.84558 AU n = 0.205327 P = 4.80 years