Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 8044: 2003E; C/2003 A1; 2001 QR_322
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Circular No. 8044
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
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SUPERNOVA 2003E IN MCG -4-12-4
M. Papenkova and W. Li, University of California at Berkeley,
report the LOTOSS (cf. IAUC 7906) discovery of an apparent
supernova (mag about 17.0) on unfiltered KAIT images taken on Jan.
5.3 and 7.3 UT. SN 2003E is located at R.A. = 4h39m10s.88, Decl. =
-24o10'36".5 (equinox 2000.0), which is 5".8 west and 9".1 north of
the center of MCG -4-12-4. A KAIT image from 2002 Nov. 27.3 showed
nothing at this position (limiting mag about 18.5).
COMET C/2003 A1
An apparently asteroidal LINEAR object (discovery observation
below), posted on the NEO Confirmation Page, has been found to be
diffuse by CCD observers elsewhere, including at Haleakala (1.2-m
reflector, with K. Lawrence reporting the object as slightly
diffuse on NEAT images taken on Jan. 7.3 UT, and again somewhat
diffuse on Jan. 8.3), at Klet (where M. Tichy found a coma diameter
of 8" on images taken on Jan. 8.7 with the 1.06-m KLENOT reflector),
and at Ondrejov (where P. Pravec found a faint, small coma that was
"marginally apparent", on images taken close to the moon on Jan.
8.8 with the 0.65-m f/3.6 reflector).
2003 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m2
Jan. 5.07007 1 08 36.07 - 6 18 54.8 18.4
MPEC 2003-A56 has astrometry, the following preliminary
parabolic orbital elements, and an ephemeris. The object is likely
of short period, with the angular orbital elements quite similar to
those of D/1783 W1.
T = 2003 Jan. 13.452 TT Peri. = 348.741
Node = 51.726 2000.0
q = 2.11485 AU Incl. = 48.367
2001 QR_322
New observations of 2001 QR_322, discovered on 2001 Aug. 21 in
the course of the Lowell Observatory's Deep Ecliptic Survey (cf.
MPEC 2001-V11), indicate that this object is the first known
Neptune 'Trojan' object, being a 1:1 Neptune librator that remains
more than 20 AU from Neptune over 14000 yr (recent observations and
new orbital elements on MPEC 2003-A55). Calculations by E. Chiang,
University of California at Berkeley, indicate that its orbit is
likely to have remained stable over a billion years.
(C) Copyright 2003 CBAT
2003 January 8 (8044) Daniel W. E. Green
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