Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 6811: C/1997 L1, P/1997 T3; C/1997 H3, C/1997 P3, C/1998 A1
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Circular No. 6811
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
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COMETS C/1997 L1 AND P/1997 T3
The IAU Small Bodies Names Committee, after more than 15 weeks
of deliberation, has decided that the comet announced in the third item
on IAUC 6754 and discussed further on IAUC 6759 is to be named P/1997 T3
(Lagerkvist-Carsenty). At the same time, it was agreed that the comet
announced on IAUC 6677, and for which a name was indicated on IAUC 6681,
will be renamed C/1997 L1 (Zhu-Balam). Although the renaming of a comet
is not something to be taken lightly, the Committee wishes to make the
point that these two cases, in effect very similar to each other, are quite
unlike others that have heretofore arisen. Although there are many
examples of comets judged by their initial discoverers to be asteroidal,
yet found by subsequent observers to be cometary, there was no reason
to believe, from the apparent sky positions and motions available, that
C/1997 L1 was different from the main-belt minor planets reported in the
same batch of data, or that P/1997 T3 was not a Trojan of the type being
surveyed at the time. It is therefore reasonable to name these two comets,
not only for the people who drew attention to the objects themselves, but
also for the observers who recognized the physical cometary characteristics
of the objects and publicized this fact in a timely manner. In appreciating
that modern CCD and computer technology renders it likely that similar
situations will arise in the future, the Committee hastens to point out that,
if the initial positional information shows an apparently asteroidal object
to be dynamically unusual, possibly--but not necessarily--by the time
the discovery has been widely publicized, an observer who then recognizes
cometary characteristics has no claim for recognition in the comet's name.
COMETS C/1997 H3, C/1997 P3 AND C/1998 A1
C. St. Cyr, Naval Research Laboratory, on behalf of the SOHO-
LASCO Consortium (cf. IAUC 6685), reports the discovery of three more
probable Kreutz sungrazing comets in C3 coronagraphic data. Two were
found by D. A. Biesecker in an automatic search, the third by St. Cyr
in recent data. None of the comets had a tail, and peak magnitudes were
about 6.6, 7.5 and 6.1, respectively. Measurements by Biesecker and St. Cyr
have been reduced by G. V. Williams and are published in detail on MPEC
1998-B11, -B12 and -B13, together with orbit solutions by B. G. Marsden.
1997/98 UT R.A. (2000) Decl.
Apr. 25.536 2 25.4 +10 10 C/1997 H3
Aug. 7.640 8 52.6 +14 16 C/1997 P3
Jan. 12.286 19 53.5 -24 30 C/1998 A1
(C) Copyright 1998 CBAT
1998 January 23 (6811) Brian G. Marsden
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