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IAUC 7883: 2002 H2; C/2002 C1

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                                                  Circular No. 7883
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 2002 H2
     R. Huber, Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, reports the discovery by LINEAR of a comet with a
diffuse coma that is elongated in p.a. about 250 deg.  Following
posting on the NEO Confirmation Page, R. Apitzsch (Wildberg,
Germany; 0.24-m reflector) reported the object to be cometary, and
L. Sarounova (Ondrejov; 0.65-m reflector) found a coma of diameter
> 1', m_2 = 15.5, and a faint fan tail apparently toward the
southwest in a crowded star field.  CCD astrometry:

     2002 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m1    Observer
     Apr. 22.41264   19 29 47.00   +28 11 00.0   15.9   LINEAR
          22.44106   19 29 44.50   +28 13 13.7   15.9     "
          22.98194   19 28 58.85   +28 55 27.6   16.2   Apitzsch
          23.04289   19 28 53.70   +29 00 15.3   15.5     "
          23.04964   19 28 53.06   +29 00 45.8          Sarounova
          23.05593   19 28 52.50   +29 01 15.6   13.5     "


COMET C/2002 C1 (IKEYA-ZHANG)
     H. E. Matthews, National Research Council of Canada and Joint
Astronomy Centre (JAC), Hilo; T. B. Lowe, JAC; and D. Jewitt,
Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, report sub-
millimeter continuum observations of C/2002 C1 made at the James
Clerk Maxwell Telescope (+ SCUBA bolometer array receiver) on Mauna
Kea.  Images of a 2' field were made simultaneously at 850 and 450
microns on Mar. 30.85 UT.  Preliminary peak intensities are 0.4 and
2.0 Jy/beam respectively, within the beamwidths of 13".5 and 8".5
(to half-power).  The equivalent blackbody cross-section at 850
microns is approximately 3200 km**2, about 8 times that measured
for 1P/Halley but 10 times less than that of C/1995 O1 when at its
brightest.  The 850-micron image is significantly extended compared
with that of Uranus and CRL 2688, proving that most of the emission
is from large particles in an extended coma surrounding the nucleus.
Matthews et al. estimate that the mass loss in these large
particles is on the order of 4 x 10**8 g/s.
     Naked-eye total-magnitude estimates:  Mar. 29.80 UT, 3.3 (M.
Meyer, Ilhorn, Germany); Apr. 6.84, 3.6 (N. Biver, Domart, France;
5-deg tail); 11.38, 3.4 (P. Creed, Cambridge, OH; 8-deg tail in
p.a. 340 deg); 14.12, 4.3 (J. Serant, Chevillon, France); 18.6, 3.9
(S. J. O'Meara, Volcano, HI; 6-deg tail in p.a. 300 deg); 20.15,
4.2 (J. J. Gonzalez, Asturias, Spain); 22.02, 3.9 (K. Hornoch,
Lelekovice, Czech Republic).

                      (C) Copyright 2002 CBAT
2002 April 23                  (7883)            Daniel W. E. Green

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