Comet C/2012 C1 (McNaught)
Abstract
R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a slightly diffuse comet with diameter 10" on CCD images taken with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring (discovery observations tabulated below). After posting on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have noted the object's cometary appearance. Giovanni Sostero (Povoletto, Italy) writes that eight stacked 30-s R-band images taken remotely by N. Howes, E. Guido, and himself on Feb. 6.4 UT with the 2.0-m "Faulkes Telescope South" at Siding Spring show a coma about 5" in diameter with a weak central condensation, adding that the coma is slightly elongated toward the southwest. Forty co-added 30-s images taken by R. Holmes, T. Linder, and V. Hoette with a 0.41-m f/11 Ritchey-Chretien reflector at Cerro Tololo on Feb. 10.0 show a 6".2-diameter coma with a faint, narrow tail 26".4 long in p.a. 36.7 deg. 2012 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer Feb. 5.56391 6 24 34.98 -40 51 08.7 18.8 McNaught 5.57468 6 24 34.33 -40 51 08.5 " 5.58546 6 24 33.64 -40 51 07.0 " 5.59617 6 24 32.90 -40 51 06.3 " The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-C38. T = 2013 Mar. 1.1677 TT Peri. = 284.5924 Node = 299.7748 2000.0 q = 4.629673 AU Incl. = 95.6793
- Publication:
-
Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams
- Pub Date:
- February 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012CBET.3016....1M