Comet C/2012 F1 (Gibbs)
Abstract
A. R. Gibbs reports his discovery of an apparent comet with a 8" coma and a 12" tail in p.a. 80 degrees on four co-added CCD images (discovery astrometry tabulated below) obtained with the Catalina 0.68-m Schmidt telescope in good seeing. After posting on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have commented on the object's cometary appearance. M. Tichy reports that images taken by J. Ticha, M. Honkova, M. Kocer, and himself with the 1.06-m KLENOT telescope at the Klet Observatory on Mar. 16.95 UT show the object to be diffuse with a faint 15" coma. R-band images taken by W. H. Ryan and E. V. Ryan with the Magdalena Ridge Observatory 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector on Mar. 17.2 show a distinct coma and wide tail toward p.a. about 50 deg. H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan) writes that fifteen stacked 60-s exposures taken on Mar. 17.2 with a 0.25-m f/3.4 astrograph at the RAS Observatory near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A., show a moderately condensed coma 20" in diameter with total V-band magnitude of 19.3 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 10". 2012 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer Mar. 16.27951 11 20 08.84 -23 25 53.9 18.7 Gibbs 16.28757 11 20 06.71 -23 25 38.1 " 16.29557 11 20 04.77 -23 25 20.9 " 16.30355 11 20 02.73 -23 25 03.5 18.3 " The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-F30. T = 2012 Feb. 21.182 TT Peri. = 300.968 Node = 129.840 2000.0 q = 2.55872 AU Incl. = 159.407
- Publication:
-
Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams
- Pub Date:
- March 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012CBET.3049....1G