Comet 202P/Scotti

S. Nakano (2004, Nakano Note No. 1070) suggested that P/2001 X2 = 1929 WW, an apparently asteroidal object for which approximate positions from Lowell Observatory plates taken by E. C. Slipher and C. W. Tombaugh on 1929 Nov. 27 and Dec. 3 were published by H. L. Giclas (1940, A.N. 271, 43). Accurate measurements by B. A. Skiff and C. M. Olmstead were published on MPC 16527 in 1990. Although the identification was plausible, the linkage required use of the approximate position on the first night, and this differs from the accurate position by some 6'. Skiff has now reexamined that first plate, finding the measurement on MPC 16527 in fact to apply to a string of faint stars. His new estimate of the position of the object reported by Giclas, 1929 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Nov. 27.25556 5 17 18.5 +20 21 06 16.5 clearly confirms the correctness of the identification with the object now designated comet 202P (IAUC 8971, 8976), this object having T = 1930 Jan. 8.7 TT. Indeed, Skiff remarks that the object appears weakly cometary on both 1929 plates, the fuzziness amounting to a 10" coma at best, with no indication of a tail.