Electronic Telegram No. 2257
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Room 209; Dept. of Earth and Planetary
 Sciences; Harvard University; 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbat@iau.org; cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu
URL http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html


COMET C/2010 H4 (SCOTTI)
     J. V. Scotti, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, reports his discovery of
a comet (discovery position below), slightly diffuse and showing a tail to the
west-northwest, with the 0.9-m f/3 Spacewatch reflector and CCD mosaic at
Kitt Peak.  His follow-up observations with the 1.8-m f/2.7 reflector on
Apr. 20.35 UT showed a coma of diameter 4" and a tail extending 0'.75 in p.a.
288 deg.  After announcement on the NEOCP, further follow-up observations by
W. H. Ryan at Magdalena Ridge (2.4-m f/8.9 reflector) on Apr. 21.4 confirmed
the cometary appearance and showed a faint tail in p.a. 290 deg.

     2010 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Apr. 20.26786   14 32 29.42   -14 37 58.2   21.0   Scotti

     The orbit of this comet is extremely indeterminate.  Astrometry, the
following very preliminary parabolic orbital elements and an ephemeris are
given on MPEC 2010-H41.

     T = 2014 Jan. 16.982 TT          Peri. = 287.115
                                      Node  =  38.079   2000.0
     q = 3.75547 AU                   Incl. = 167.750



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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2010 CBAT
2010 April 22                    (CBET 2257)              Brian G. Marsden