Comet C/2006 U6 (Spacewatch)

An apparently asteroidal object discovered by the Spacewatch program, and posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, has been reported to be marginally cometary in appearance by observers elsewhere: E. Christensen reports that his inspection of 30-s CCD frames taken by A. Gibbs at Mt. Lemmon on Oct. 28.2 UT suggests that the object's images appear soft. J. Young (Table Mountain) writes that his images, obtained in excellent seeing conditions (despite smoke from nearby fires) and moonlight on Oct. 30.1, show a diffuse 3"-4" coma with no hint of a tail. 2006 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer Oct. 19.13426 23 32 59.24 + 3 15 56.5 19.8 Spacewatch The available astrometry, the following parabolic orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2006-U79. T = 2008 June 5.408 TT Peri. = 276.510 Node = 180.182 2000.0 q = 2.50156 AU Incl. = 84.964