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IAUC 8215: P/2003 T1

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                                                  Circular No. 8215
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 P/2003 T1 (TRITTON)
     P. Holvorcem, Campinas, Brazil, has reported that the co-
addition of three 45-s unfiltered CCD images of a fast-moving
object found by C. Juels, Fountain Hills, AZ, with a 0.12-m f/5
refractor and a 0.5-m f/4.8 reflector (discovery observation below)
show a coma of diameter 2' and a hint of a 1'.5 tail at p.a.
roughly 257 deg.  Following posting on the NEO Confirmation Page,
additional CCD observers noted the object's cometary appearance,
including R. Trentman (Louisburg, KS, 0.75-m reflector; mag 13.1
and very faint evidence of a tail approximately 10" long in p.a.
approximately 280 deg on Oct. 7.4 UT), D. T. Durig (Sewanee, TN,
0.30-m f/5.86 reflector; teardrop-shaped coma of mag 10.1 with a
tail at least 2'-2'.5 long in p.a. about 285 deg on Oct. 7.4), and
J. Young (Table Mountain, CA, 0.6-m reflector; 36" coma elongated
to 48", with a 3' tail in p.a. 289 deg with a very straight and
extremely thin jet of length about 1'.5 in its center on Oct. 7.5).

     2003 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Oct.  6.44284    9 08 52.72   +18 58 15.9   12.4

Following a suggestion by S. Hoenig (Dossenheim, Germany) from
orbital computations by M. Meyer (Kelkheim, Germany), B. G. Marsden
(Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) has shown that this comet
is identical to the lost comet 1978d = 1977 XIII = D/1978 C2
(Tritton), which was observed for only a month (cf. IAUC 3175,
3186, 3194, 3198).  The available astrometry, including Sept. 22
prediscovery observations, and the following orbital elements by
Marsden appear on MPEC 2003-T37.

                    Epoch = 1977 Oct. 24.0 TT
     T = 1977 Oct. 28.4469 TT         Peri. = 147.2879
     e = 0.587351                     Node  = 300.9159  2000.0
     q = 1.435688 AU                  Incl. =   7.0812
       a =  3.479198 AU    n = 0.1518747    P =   6.490 years

                    Epoch = 2003 Oct.  8.0 TT
     T = 2003 Sept.24.3077 TT         Peri. = 147.4233
     e = 0.589828                     Node  = 300.7297  2000.0
     q = 1.421098 AU                  Incl. =   7.1157
       a =  3.464642 AU    n = 0.1528328    P =   6.449 years

                      (C) Copyright 2003 CBAT
2003 October 7                 (8215)            Daniel W. E. Green

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