Electronic Telegram No. 2797
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET C/2011 Q2 (McNAUGHT)
     R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a moderately- to strongly-
condensed comet with a 0'.8 circular coma on CCD images taken with the 0.5-m
Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring (discovery observation tabulated
below); his images from Aug. 27.4 UT show the comet with similar appearance
to that on the discovery images.  Following posting on the Minor Planet
Center's NEOCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have also commented on the
object's cometary appearance.  Co-added images taken by R. Holmes, T. Linder,
and V. Hoette (Ashmore, IL, USA) with a 0.41-m f/11 Ritchey-Chretien reflector
on Aug. 28.0 reveal a coma 20" wide with a faint tail 24" long in p.a. 138 deg.
Images taken by A. C. Gilmore and P. M. Kilmartin with the Mount John 1.0-m
f/7.7 reflector on Aug. 29.4 show a circular coma 12" in diameter with
condensation at the center (and no obvious tail in a 120-s exposure).

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Aug. 26.40124   13 48 16.69   -38 04 58.2   14.5   McNaught

The available astrometry, the following parabolic orbital elements by G. V.
Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2001-Q54.

     T = 2012 Jan. 20.3566 TT         Peri. =  34.4014
                                      Node  = 287.1093  2000.0
     q = 1.361430 AU                  Incl. =  36.9622


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 August 30                   (CBET 2797)              Daniel W. E. Green