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IAUC 7012: P/1998 QP54

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                                                  Circular No. 7012
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)
BMARSDEN@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or DGREEN@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html
Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET P/1998 QP54
     On Sept. 13, Roy A. Tucker (Tucson, AZ) reported his discovery of a
comet in the course of his CCD asteroid-astrometry program with a 0.36-m
f/11 Schmidt-Cassegrain at the Goodricke-Pigott Observatory.  G. V.
Williams, Minor Planet Center, then identified the comet with 1998 QP54,
which had been reported by E. Bowell (observer W. D. Ferris, measurer
B. W. Koehn) as an apparently quite ordinary minor planet in the course of
LONEOS, the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search (cf. MPC 32398; the
observations themselves, on Aug. 27 and 28, were published on MPS 2052).
Williams then also identified single-night observations (also on Aug. 28)
by LINEAR as belonging to the same object.  Information about the object
was then placed in The NEO Confirmation Page.  In response, J. Ticha
reported observations made at the Klet Observatory that showed a faint coma
(diameter 17") and a 35" tail in p.a. 226 deg, and L. Sarounova reported
from the Ondrejov Observatory on a narrow tail 5' long in p.a. 135 deg and
only a small coma.  Observations were also reported by T. Spahr from the
Catalina Sky Survey.  The LONEOS and Tucker discovery observations are listed
here for reference, and the complete set of currently available observations
is given on MPEC 1998-R27, which is also the source for the orbital
elements and ephemeris below.  The comet is clearly of short period, and
it made a close approach to Jupiter early in 1992.

     1998 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m2    Observer
     Aug. 27.41419    0 31 51.89   +10 28 55.0   17.1   Ferris
     Sept.13.21368    0 22 19.28   +15 12 15.4   16.7   Tucker

     T = 1998 Oct.  6.698 TT          Peri. =  30.177
     e = 0.55537                      Node  = 342.001   2000.0
     q = 1.88548 AU                   Incl. =  17.825
       a =  4.24060 AU     n = 0.112866     P =   8.73 years

1998 TT     R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta      r    Elong. Phase      m2
Sept.14     0 21.67    +15 24.7    0.931    1.897  156.7   12.1     17.0
     19     0 17.25    +16 40.2    0.917    1.893  160.0   10.4     16.9
     24     0 12.42    +17 49.9    0.909    1.889  162.3    9.3     16.8
     29     0 07.41    +18 52.9    0.906    1.887  163.1    8.9     16.8
Oct.  4     0 02.45    +19 48.6    0.909    1.886  162.0    9.4     16.8
      9    23 57.76    +20 37.0    0.917    1.886  159.6   10.7     16.9
     14    23 53.56    +21 18.3    0.931    1.887  156.2   12.3     17.0

                      (C) Copyright 1998 CBAT
1998 September 14              (7012)              Brian G. Marsden

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