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IAUC 8620: P/2005 RV_25; 2005 SD

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                                                  Circular No. 8620
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 P/2005 RV_25 (LONEOS-CHRISTENSEN)
     A comet was reported by E. J. Christensen (Catalina Sky Survey,
0.68-m Schmidt telescope) as showing a 15" coma and no discernible
tail in four stacked 60-second exposures on Oct. 22.3 UT.  It was
confirmed as cometary on CCD images taken by R. H. McNaught (Siding
Spring Observatory, 1.0-m f/8 reflector; fan tail spanning 90 deg
to the southwest) on Oct. 22.6, by P. Birtwhistle (Great Shefford,
Berkshire, England, 0.40-m f/6.0 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector; 10"
coma, moderately condensed, no tail) on Oct. 22.9, by R. Miles
(Stourton Caundle, Dorset, England, 0.28-m f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain
reflector) on Oct. 23.0, by J. Young (Table Mountain Obsrvatory,
0.6-m f/16 Cassegrain reflector; very diffuse 8"-diameter coma with
little central condensation and a very broad but poorly defined
tail spanning p.a. 170-250 deg extending to about 20" from the coma
center) on Oct. 23.2, and by J. E. McGaha (Tucson, AZ, 0.62-m f/5.1
reflector; elongated coma of size 8" x 12" toward p.a. 225 deg) on
Oct. 23.2.  Computations at the Minor Planet Center revealed
several prediscovery observations, notably that the object is
identical with the two-night asteroidal object 2005 RV_25 (LONEOS
discovery, MPS 141815).  Discovery positions follow, together with
the orbital elements given on MPEC 2005-U18, which also contains
further astrometry and an ephemeris.

     2005 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Sept.11.28012    1 22 06.33   +19 05 16.3   17.7   LONEOS
     Oct. 22.25151    1 00 20.98   +16 33 08.1   18.3   Christensen

     T = 2006 Nov. 11.2775 TT         Peri. = 192.3492
     e = 0.167169                     Node  = 246.8919  2000.0
     q = 3.604711 AU                  Incl. =   9.8917
       a =  4.328260 AU    n = 0.1094546    P =   9.005 years


2005 SD
     Further to IAUC 8618, several CCD observers have reported
that their images of 2005 SD show no cometary appearance at all,
including C. Hergenrother (Mt. Graham 1.8-m VATT Lennon telescope,
co-added 6-min exposure on Oct. 3.28 UT, and Mt. Hopkins 1.2-m
reflector, co-added 300-s R-band image on Oct. 22.07), R. Ferrando
(Valencia, Spain, 0.36-m f/6.3 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector, Oct.
21.86 and 23.78), and J. Young and D. Mayes (Table Mountain, 8-min
exposures on Oct. 23.2).

                      (C) Copyright 2005 CBAT
2005 October 24                (8620)            Daniel W. E. Green

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