Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams

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IAUC 8769: C/2006 U6; C/2006 U7

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 8769
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 U6 (SPACEWATCH)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered by the Spacewatch
program, and posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, has
been reported to be marginally cometary in appearance by observers
elsewhere:  E. Christensen reports that his inspection of 30-s CCD
frames taken by A. Gibbs at Mt. Lemmon on Oct. 28.2 UT suggests
that the object's images appear soft.  J. Young (Table Mountain)
writes that his images, obtained in excellent seeing conditions
(despite smoke from nearby fires) and moonlight on Oct. 30.1, show
a diffuse 3"-4" coma with no hint of a tail.

     2006 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Oct. 19.13426   23 32 59.24   + 3 15 56.5   19.8   Spacewatch

The available astrometry, the following parabolic orbital elements,
and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2006-U79.

     T = 2008 June  5.408 TT          Peri. = 276.510
                                      Node  = 180.182   2000.0
     q = 2.50156 AU                   Incl. =  84.964


COMET C/2006 U7 (GIBBS)
     Alex R. Gibbs reports his discovery of a comet on images taken
with the Mt. Lemmon Survey 1.5-m reflector, the object then
reported as diffuse with diameter 7", possibly elongated in p.a.
230 deg.  Following posting on the NEOCP, J. Young notes a very
diffuse 4"-5" coma and no tail on images taken at Table Mountain
on Oct. 30.4 UT, adding that the comet is in a faint, somewhat-
dense star field.  Follow-up observations at Mt. Lemmon by
Christensen on Oct. 30.4 (four 90-s exposures in good seeing)
reveal a diffuse 5" coma and a 15" tail in p.a. 260 deg.

     2006 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Oct. 28.29549    3 31 54.84   +17 55 24.0   20.8   Gibbs

The available astrometry, the following parabolic orbital elements,
and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2006-U80.

     T = 2008 Feb. 23.969 TT          Peri. =  68.853
                                      Node  =  56.166   2000.0
     q = 3.52395 AU                   Incl. =  11.253

                      (C) Copyright 2006 CBAT
2006 October 30                (8769)            Daniel W. E. Green

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