Electronic Telegram No. 558
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
M.S. 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html


COMET P/2006 M3 (BARNARD)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered by LINEAR (discovery
observation tabulated below) has been found to be cometary following
posting on the Near-Earth-Object Confirmation Page.  L. Buzzi (Schiaparelli
Observatory, Varese, Italy; 0.60-m f/4.6 reflector) reports that, when
observed in good seeing during June 23.97-23.99 UT, the images had a FWHM
about 30 percent greater than stars of similar brightness, and there was a 6"
circular coma with a strong central condensation.  Reports from R. Salvo
(Los Molinos, Uruguay) on June 24.2 and from J. Broughton (Reedy Creek,
Queensland) on June 24.6 also suggest that the object is a comet.  From
a preliminary orbit computation, D. W. E. Green (Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics) suggests that the comet is a return of P/1889 M1 =
1889 III = 1889c (Barnard), for which A. Berberich (1889, A.N. 123, 77) was
the first to compute an orbit of intermediate period (about 128 years).  The
orbital elements below, by the undersigned, are from a linkage to selected
1889 observations and are taken from MPEC 2006-M38, which also provides the
current astrometric observations and an ephemeris.  Although the identification
is not in doubt, a systematic trend is evident in the 2006 residuals,
presumably due to nongravitational effects.

     2006 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.      Mag.
     June 23.25870   17 43 38.68   -27 26 53.5  17.1

                    Epoch = 2006 Aug. 13.0 TT
     T = 2006 Aug. 28.6395 TT         Peri. =  60.4447
     e = 0.954408                     Node  = 272.0668  2000.0
     q = 1.106974 AU                  Incl. =  31.2155
       a = 24.279744 AU    n = 0.0082383    P = 119.637 years


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
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                         (C) Copyright 2006 CBAT
2006 June 24                     (CBET 558)               Brian G. Marsden