Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams

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IAUC 8264: (121); C/2002 X7, X8, X9, X10, X11, X12

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 8264
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)


(121) HERMIONE
     F. Marchis and C. Laver, University of California at Berkeley
(UCB); and J. Berthier, Institut de Mecanique Celeste et de Calcul
des Ephemerides (IMCCE) -- in collaboration with P. Descamps and D.
Hestroffer, IMCCE; and I. de Pater, UCB -- report evidence of a
bilobated shape of this main-belt minor planet from observations
performed on 2003 Dec. 6.521 and Dec. 7.528 UT at 2.2 microns using
the Keck 10-m telescope (+ NIRC-2) and its adaptive-optics system.
The 'peanut'-shaped minor planet appears 230 km (0".126) long with
two lobes of radius 60 and 50 km separated by 120 km and perhaps
linked by a bridge of matter 80 km wide, or as two connected
components of radius 90 and 60 km (a 'snowman' shape) separated by
a center-to-center distance of 115 km.  Angular resolution provided
on these images cannot discern between these models but the images
clearly rule out a simple ellipsoid shape.  Additionally, the
comparison with the physical ephemeris indicates a pole solution
that agrees with de Angelis (1995, Planet. Space Sci. 43, 649) and
confirms the rotation rate of 5.551 hr measured recently by R.
Behrend (Geneva Observatory) on the basis of new photometric
observations made by R. Roy (Blauvac, France) and P. Baudoin (Le
Havre, France).  Note that (121) is also known to have a moonlet
companion orbiting at 790 km around the primary (cf. IAUC 7980).
An occultation involving this extremely interesting target will
occur on 2004 Feb. 16 UT and will be visible mainly from Europe.
Adaptive-optics images and information about the occultation are
available at the website
http://astron.berkeley.edu/~fmarchis/Science/HermioneKeck/.


COMETS C/2002 X7, X8, X9, X10, X11, X12 (SOHO)
     Further to IAUC 8263, K. Battams reports measures of
additional Kreutz comets found by X.-m. Zhou (C/2002 X7, X10, and
X12), M. Meyer (C/2002 X8), S. Hoenig (C/2002 X9), and R. Kracht
(C/2002 X11) on SOHO C2 images (astrometry and orbital elements on
MPEC 2004-A36).

      Comet          2002 UT           R.A. (2000.0) Decl.
      C/2002 X7      Dec.  1.329       16 30.3      -23 30
      C/2002 X8            5.271       16 48.3      -24 09
      C/2002 X9            5.288       16 50.7      -24 18
      C/2002 X10           5.564       16 49.7      -24 10
      C/2002 X11           8.963       17 05.7      -24 37
      C/2002 X12           9.564       17 08.2      -24 38

                      (C) Copyright 2004 CBAT
2004 January 9                 (8264)            Daniel W. E. Green

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