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Circular No. 7956 Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION Mailstop 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 ISSN 0081-0304 Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only) COMET C/2002 Q1 (VAN NESS) Michael E. Van Ness, Lowell Observatory, reports his discovery of a comet with a moderately condensed 24" coma and a fan-shaped tail about 200" long in p.a. 270 deg on LONEOS images taken on Aug. 17. The cometary nature was confirmed by several other CCD astrometric observers on Aug. 18, who all reported a generally diffuse coma with diameter about 14"-25"; several also noted a tail about 25"-120" long in p.a. 260-270 deg. 2002 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Aug. 17.44384 3 57 42.77 + 1 08 26.4 16.9 The available astrometric data (including observer information) and the following preliminary orbital elements appear on MPEC 2002-Q08. T = 2002 July 25.502 TT Peri. = 190.673 Node = 178.447 2000.0 q = 1.65463 AU Incl. = 38.671 SUPERNOVA 2002en IN UGC 12289 Further to IAUC 7906 and 7953, W. D. Li reports the LOTOSS discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 18.3) on unfiltered CCD images taken with KAIT on Aug. 18.3 and 19.3 UT. SN 2002en is located at R.A. = 22h59m40s.82, Decl. = +24o04'17".5 (equinox 2000.0), which is 9".9 west and 12".2 south of the nucleus of UGC 12289. A KAIT image taken on Aug. 12.3 showed nothing at this position (limiting mag about 19.0). COMETS C/2002 N2, C/2002 P2, AND C/2002 P3 (SOHO) Further to IAUC 7952, D. Hammer reports measurements for three comets found on SOHO website images by R. Kracht. C/2002 P2 (a Kreutz comet) was seen on C3 coronagraph images; the others were visible only on C2 images; C/2002 P3 is a member of the Meyer group (cf. IAUC 7832), and C/2002 N2 of the Kracht group (IAUC 7952). Reduced astrometry and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear on the MPECs cited below. Comet 2002 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. MPEC C/2002 N2 July 11.646 7 15.8 +22 31 2002-Q02 C/2002 P2 Aug. 10.513 8 59.6 +13 58 2002-P55 C/2002 P3 12.504 9 21.7 +16 19 2002-P63 (C) Copyright 2002 CBAT 2002 August 19 (7956) Daniel W. E. Green
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