Electronic Telegram No. 2114
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://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html


COMET P/2010 A2 (LINEAR)
     A comet reported by the LINEAR project (discovery observation below) and
placed on the NEO Confirmation Page has been reported as cometary by several
observers.  On Jan. 7.0 UT, P. Birtwhistle (Great Shefford, Berkshire, England,
0.40-m f/6.0 Schmidt-Cassegrain) described a straight tail extending at least
130" in p.a. 280 deg but noted that the absence of an obvious central
condensation made measurement of the comet's position very difficult.  On
Jan. 7.2, W. H. Ryan (Magdalena Ridge Observatory, 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector) also
remarked on the very distinct, bright tail in p.a. 280 deg and the difficulty
of identifying the center of the elongated condensation.  At the same time,
H. Sato (RAS Observatory, Mayhill, NM, U.S.A., 0.25-m f/3.4 reflector)
likewise described the tail in p.a. 280 deg and noted the measurement
difficulty.  On Jan. 7.3, E. C. Beshore (Mt. Lemmon Survey, 1.5-m reflector)
followed the tail out to nearly 4' (in p.a. 285 deg), while on Jan. 7.6
K. Kadota (Ageo, Japan, 0.25-m f/5.0 reflector) followed it out to 5'.

     2010 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Jan.  6.27428   07 10 16.81   +28 21 35.1   19.9   LINEAR

     Further astrometry, the following elliptical orbital elements and an
ephemeris are given on MPEC 2010-A32.

     T = 2010 May 7.565 TT            Peri. = 227.300
     e = 0.63483                      Node  = 313.525   2000.0
     q = 1.35759 AU                   Incl. =   6.068
         a = 3.71766 AU,   n = 0.137499,   P = 7.17 years


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2010 CBAT
2010 January 7                   (CBET 2114)              Brian G. Marsden