Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams

IAUC 8941: C/2008 J2

The following International Astronomical Union Circular may be linked-to from your own Web pages, but must not otherwise be redistributed (see these notes on the conditions under which circulars are made available on our WWW site).

---

Read IAUC 8940 Read IAUC 8942

View IAUC 8941 in .dvi, .ps or .PDF format.

IAUC number

---

                                                  Circular No. 8941
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://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET C/2008 J2 (BESHORE)
     E. Beshore reports his discovery of a comet with a bright,
condensed condensation about 20" across and a faint tail in p.a.
270 deg on images taken with the Mt. Lemmon 1.5-m reflector
(discovery observation tabulated below).  After posting on the
Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, J. C. Pelle reported a
diffuse head and a tail in p.a. 250 deg on images taken by N. Teamo
(Punaauia, French Polynesia, 0.41-m reflector) on May 6.52-6.56 UT.
A. C. Gilmore (Mt. John 1.0-m reflector, May 6.53-6.55) found a
bright circular coma of diameter about 16" (total mag 14.4-14.5 in
a 7"-radius aperture) and a faint, short tail seen as slight
diffuseness on the west side (p.a. about 250 deg).  G. Sostero and
E. Guido (Remanzacco, Italy, 0.2-m reflector, May 6.95) write that
co-added unfiltered exposures show an extremely compact 20" coma of
almost uniform brightness, slightly elongated toward the southwest;
remote Cousins-R-band imaging with a 0.25-m reflector near Mayhill,
NM, U.S.A., on May 7.37 yields coma diameter about 25" (total mag
about 13.9), elongated toward p.a. 240 deg.  Other reports of
cometary appearance have been received from P. Birtwhistle, Great
Shefford, Berkshire, England (0.40-m reflector, May 6.96-6.97;
diffuse with a concentrated center, the 22" coma having a softer
edge towards p.a. 260 deg but no obvious tail); J. M. Aymami, Tiana,
Spain (0.25-m reflector, May 6.97-6.98; nebulous object of mag
about 14.8; L. Buzzi, Varese, Italy (0.60-m reflector, May 7.03-
7.09; several stacked images reveal a compact coma, clearly
elongated with a broad tail at least 20" long); C. Jacques and E.
Pimentel, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil (0.30-m reflector,
May 7.08-7.09; condensed, elongated coma of size 18".7 x 31".3);
J. E. McGaha, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A. (0.36-m reflector, May 7.29-7.32;
starlike nuclear condensation with a 3" coma, elongated 5" toward
p.a. 260 deg); and J. Young, Table Mountain (0.61-m reflector,
May 7.32-7.35; 12" coma, slightly elongated toward p.a. 260 deg,
with a hint of a poorly defined tail >/= 40" long between between
p.a. 245 deg and 275 deg).

     2008 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     May   6.44680   17 06 21.38   -13 33 36.1   13.8

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2008-J39; this
comet may be of short period.

     T = 2008 Oct.  7.073 TT          Peri. = 256.546
                                      Node  =  85.219   2000.0
     q = 1.09077 AU                   Incl. =  16.563

                      (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2008 May 7                     (8941)            Daniel W. E. Green

---

Read IAUC 8940 Read IAUC 8942

View IAUC 8941 in .dvi, .ps or .PDF format.

---

Our Web policy. Index to the CBAT/MPC/ICQ pages.