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IAUC 8994: P/2008 T4; 2008 TC_3

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 8994
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 P/2008 T4 (HILL)
     R. E. Hill reports his discovery of a comet on CCD images
taken with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope in the course of the
Catalina Sky Survey (discovery observation tabulated below), a
stack of four 30-s exposures showing a diffuse coma 10" across and
a well-condensed nuclear condensation with a broad tail 20" long in
p.a. about 210 deg.  Images obtained by A. Boattini with the Mt.
Lemmon 1.5-m reflector on Oct. 8.44-8.45 UT show a well-condensed
coma with diameter 10" and a broad tail about 30" long in p.a. 245
deg.

     2008 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Oct.  8.38711    1 52 52.10   + 7 39 25.5   17.9

The available astrometry (including prediscovery observations from
Sept. 28-30), the following preliminary elliptical orbital elements,
and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2008-T90.

     T = 2008 Sept.21.832 TT          Peri. = 331.404
     e = 0.44203                      Node  =  46.835   2000.0
     q = 2.44897 AU                   Incl. =   5.540
       a =  4.38908 AU     n = 0.107188     P =   9.20 years


2008 TC_3
     J. Borovicka, Astronomical Institute, Czech Academy of
Sciences, reports that Z. Charvat (Czech Hydrometeorological
Institute) has noticed a bright spot that likely corresponds to the
atmospheric entry of 2008 TC_3 (cf. IAUC 8990) over northern Sudan
on images taken by the weather satellite Meteosat 8 around Oct.
7d02h45m UT; the spot is apparent in all twelve satellite spectral
channels, spanning wavelengths 0.5-14 microns.  Since the satellite
takes images in scanning mode, it takes about 5 min to obtain one
image; consequently, the exact time of the spot's appearance cannot
be inferred easily from the image.  The spot is, however, not
present in the images taken at nominal times 2h40m and 2h50m UT.
The geographical coordinates of the spot in the visual and near-
infrared channels are long. = 32.16 deg east, lat. = +20.97 deg
(assuming that the source of light is at sea level).  The HRV
channel shows an apparent tail about 3 km long toward the west-
northwest.  The infrared channels (displaced in the instrument
focal plane and likely scanned the region 1.8 s later) show the
spot at long. = 32.37 deg east, lat. = +20.89 deg.  The actual
coordinates may be slightly southwest of these positions after
correcting for the fireball's altitude (about 30 and 22 km).

                      (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2008 October 8                 (8994)            Daniel W. E. Green

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