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IAUC 8139: C/2003 K4; P/2003 KV_2

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 8139
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/2003 K4 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object found by the LINEAR survey
(discovery observation below), posted on the NEO Confirmation Page,
has been found to show a round coma of diameter 5"-7" (m_1 = 17.5)
on CCD images taken by J. Young on May 29.5 and 30.4 UT with the
0.6-m reflector at Table Mountain.  J. McGaha, Tucson, AZ, reports
that three stacked, 2-min CCD images, taken on May 29.4 with a
0.30-m reflector, show a 3" nuclear condensation and a 6" coma that
is offset to the northeast.

     2003 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m2
     May  28.38281   21 15 22.08   +28 54 27.0   17.6

The available astrometry, the following very preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2003-K52.

     T = 2003 Sept.11.935 TT          Peri. =  51.615
                                      Node  = 344.449   2000.0
     q = 8.47456 AU                   Incl. = 111.645


COMET P/2003 KV_2 (LINEAR)
     Another apparently asteroidal LINEAR object (discovery
observation below), announced on MPEC 2003-K27 as 2003 KV_2 (see
also MPEC 2003-K38 and 2003-K47), has been found cometary on R-band
images taken by C. Brinkworth and M. Burleigh on May 28.9 and 29.9
UT with the 1-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on La Palma (communicated
by A. Fitzsimmons), in which the object shows a tail about 4"-5"
long in p.a. 125 deg and a small coma that is somewhat larger than
the surrounding field stars.

     2003 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m2
     May  23.16257   10 52 41.18   +37 50 29.1   18.4

Additional astrometry and the following orbital elements appear on
MPEC 2003-K53.  This orbit shows a passage 0.55 AU from Jupiter in
Jan. 2001, before which the perihelion distance was somewhat larger.

     T = 2003 July 10.882 TT          Peri. = 188.789
     e = 0.62667                      Node  =  66.478   2000.0
     q = 1.06234 AU                   Incl. =  25.501
       a =  2.84558 AU     n = 0.205327     P =   4.80 years

                      (C) Copyright 2003 CBAT
2003 May 30                    (8139)            Daniel W. E. Green

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