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IAUC 8808: C/2007 D1; P/2007 C1

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 8808
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/2007 D1 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered by the LINEAR
survey (discovery observation tabulated below), and posted on the
Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, has been found to show
cometary appearance by several CCD astrometrists.  Images taken by
J. Ticha and M. Tichy on Feb. 17.9 UT with the Klet 1.06-m
telescope show the object as diffuse with a coma diameter of 15"
and total mag 17.4, while their images on Feb. 18.9 show a diffuse,
14" coma and a wide tail at p.a. 300 deg.  Frames taken by A. C.
Gilmore on Feb. 18.43 and 18.59 with the Mt. John 1.0-m f/7.7
reflector show a coma of diameter about 5" and a stubby tail about
20" long pointing due west.  G. Hug (Eskridge, KS, U.S.A., 0.7-m
reflector) notes that his photos from Feb. 18.2 reveal a short but
broad 'diffusion' extending toward p.a. about 280 deg from a nearly
stellar condensation.  J. G. Ries (McDonald Observatory, 0.76-m
reflector) writes that his R-band images obtained on Feb. 18.3 show
an extended source with an tail approximately 48" long pointing a
little south of due west.  L. Donato, V. Gonano, E. Guido, and G.
Sostero (Remanzacco, Italy, 0.45-m f/4.4 reflector) report that
co-adding twenty-five 120-s exposures from Feb. 18.8 reveals the
presence of a diffuse coma with a diameter of almost 14" and a fan
tail almost 25" long toward p.a. 255 deg.

     2007 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Feb. 17.28460    9 45 25.25   - 6 53 38.3   18.9

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2007-D22.

     T = 2007 Feb. 17.505 TT          Peri. = 289.556
                                      Node  = 219.980   2000.0
     q = 2.56366 AU                   Incl. =  12.659


COMET P/2007 C1 (CHRISTENSEN)
     As suggested might be the case on IAUC 8805, this comet is of
short period; orbital elements from MPEC 2007-D09:

     T = 2007 Mar.  7.163 TT          Peri. =  96.655
     e = 0.41270                      Node  =  56.865   2000.0
     q = 2.04436 AU                   Incl. =   8.002
       a =  3.48097 AU     n = 0.151759     P =   6.49 years

                      (C) Copyright 2007 CBAT
2007 February 19               (8808)            Daniel W. E. Green

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