Electronic Telegram No. 2803 Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION CBAT Director: Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University; 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA 02138; U.S.A. e-mail: cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org) URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network COMET C/2011 Q3 (McNAUGHT) R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of another comet on CCD images taken with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring (discovery observation tabulated below), the object appearing elongated with a hint of a tail 0'.3 long in p.a. 240 deg. His follow-up images on Aug. 30.6 UT confirm the cometary appearance, with a tail 0'.7 long fanned between p.a. 240 and 255 deg. 2011 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer Aug. 29.74083 0 16 50.17 - 5 53 42.4 18.5 McNaught The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2011-R01. It is likely that this comet is of short period. T = 2012 Feb. 4.808 TT Peri. = 46.106 Node = 21.651 2000.0 q = 1.61165 AU Incl. = 9.011 NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT 2011 September 1 (CBET 2803) Daniel W. E. Green