Electronic Telegram No. 2812
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 P/2011 R3 (NOVICHONOK)
     Artyom Novichonok reports his discovery of a new comet (discovery
observation tabulated below) on six images taken during Sept. 7.02-7.05 UT
using a 0.4-m "Jigit" telescope at the TAU station of the Ka-Dar Observatory
(located near Nizhniy Arkhyz, Russia), with the object showing a small,
condensed coma of diameter 12" and an obvious tail 0'.6 long in p.a. 261 deg.
After posting on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, other CCD
astrometrists have also noted cometary appearance in this object.  N. Howes,
G. Sostero, and E. Guido stacked six 60-s R-band exposures taken on Sept. 8.4
with the the 2.0-m f/10 "Faulkes Telescope North" at Haleakala, which show a
sharp central condensation in a coma that is nearly 4" in diameter, elongated
toward the southwest, with a broad tail at least 7" long toward p.a. 252 deg.
G. Hug (Scranton, KS, U.S.A.; 0.56-m reflector) reports a well-defined narrow
tail extending about 1' in p.a. 270 deg on his images from Sept. 8.4 and 9.3.
T. H. Bressi used the Spacewatch 1.8-m f/2.7 reflector on Sept. 9.3 to find
a tail 11" long in p.a. 5 deg.

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Sept. 7.02309    2 11 27.59   + 8 17 00.2   18.9   Novichonok

The available astrometry, the following preliminary elliptical orbital
elements by the undersigned, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2011-R34.

    P/2011 R3 (Novichonok)
T 2011 Aug. 23.35669 TT                                 MPC
q   3.5852086            (2000.0)            P               Q
n   0.09206921     Peri.  189.67625     +0.94520014     -0.32236318
a   4.8572796      Node   189.62059     +0.31642393     +0.94353338
e   0.2618896      Incl.   18.04041     +0.08045246     +0.07633302
P  10.7
From 44 observations 2011 Sept. 7-9.


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 September 9                 (CBET 2812)              Gareth V. Williams