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IAUC 8756: C/2006 OF_2; 1999 RT_214

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 8756
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/2006 OF_2 (BROUGHTON)
     An object reported as asteroidal when discovered by J.
Broughton (Reedy Creek, Queensland, Australia, 0.25-m reflector;
discovery observation tabulated below from MPEC 2006-O13 and MPC
174866), and thus given the minor-planet designation 2006 OF_2, has
been found by C. W. Hergenrother to be cometary on CCD frames taken
with the 1.54-m reflector at Catalina, whose 60-s R-band images on
Sept. 20.11 UT show the comet to possess a small, condensed coma 7"
in diameter and magnitude 18.2 with no tail.  Additional images
taken by Hergenrother in good seeing (< 1") on Sept. 26.16 show an
obvious condensed asymmetric coma of diameter 7" that is elongated
towards the northeast.

     2006 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     July 17.65728   20 43 51.49   -27 37 11.2   18.2

     Additional astrometry, the following hyperbolic orbital
elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2006-S91.

                    Epoch = 2008 Sept.11.0 TT
     T = 2008 Sept.15.5510 TT         Peri. =  95.6032
     e = 1.001046                     Node  = 318.5093  2000.0
     q = 2.431387 AU                  Incl. =  30.1670


1999 RT_214
     K. S. Noll, Space Telescope Science Institute; W. M. Grundy,
Lowell Observatory; H. F. Levison, Southwest Research Institute;
and D. C. Stephens, Johns Hopkins University, report the detection
of a binary companion to the transneptunian object 1999 RT_214 (cf.
MPEC 1999-X27, MPO 50421), which is a member of the low-inclination
classical TNO population.  The observations were made during 2006
July 25.233-25.309 UT with the High Resolution Camera of the
Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST),
using the clear filters with one 300-s exposure at each of four
dithered positions on the detector.  The two components are clearly
resolved in each image and in the coadded image, separated by an
angular distance of 0".115 +/- 0".001 and differ in brightness by
0.8 mag.  The fainter component lies at a position angle of 89.4
+/- 1.3 degrees from the primary.  The projected separation of the
objects in the sky plane is 3310 +/- 30 km.  The HST corrected for
parallax and tracked both components of 1999 RT_214 as they moved
together at an average rate of 0".045/min.

                      (C) Copyright 2006 CBAT
2006 September 29              (8756)            Daniel W. E. Green

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