Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 8252: 2003kw; 2003 EH_1, THE QUADRANTIDS
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Circular No. 8252
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
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SUPERNOVA 2003kw IN UGC 6314
Further to IAUC 8245, M. Armstrong reports his discovery of an
apparent supernova (mag 18.5) on unfiltered CCD images taken with a
0.35-m reflector on Dec. 7.143 and 8.206 UT. The new object is
located at R.A. = 11h18m12s.21, Decl. = +30o23'41".5 (equinox
2000.0), which is approximately 7".8 east and 1".5 south of the
center of UGC 6314. Nothing was visible on Armstrong's image from
Apr. 1 (limiting mag 19.5) or Palomar Sky Survey red and blue
plates (limiting mag 20.5).
2003 EH_1 AND THE QUADRANTIDS
P. Jenniskens, NASA Ames Research Center, has pointed out that
2003 EH_1 (cf. MPEC 2003-E27) would seem to be a very strong
candidate for the parent of the Quadrantid meteor stream. The
later orbits, from arcs of up to 48 days (MPO 48330), indicate that
frequent approaches within 0.2-0.3 AU of Jupiter occur, those
during the past century or two evidently increasing q from just
under 1 AU (with other orbital elements also very similar to those
of the Quadrantids) to the present 1.19 AU. The current
theoretical radiant for 2003 EH_1 (R.A. = 229.9 deg, Decl. = +49.6
deg; V_inf = 41.7 km/s at solar longitude 282.94 deg, equinox
2000.0) is at the center of the Quadrantid radiants measured by
photographic means, the narrow dispersion implying a young (about
500 years) shower age. From that dispersion, Jenniskens et al.
(1997, Astron. Astrophys. 327, 1242) suspected that the parent was
still among the meteoroids, hiding as a minor planet. On computing
a parabolic orbit for C/1490 Y1, Hasegawa (1979, Publ. Astron. Soc.
Japan 31, 257) introduced that comet as the likely Quadrantid
parent. In attempting to link the 2003 observations to those of
1490-1491, Jenniskens, and also B. G. Marsden (Center for
Astrophysics), have found that most of the potential solutions with
the required Jan. 1491 perihelion date yield 0.5 < q < 0.6 AU in
1491, and this is probably too small to fit the data used by
Hasegawa. Values in the more acceptable range of 0.7 < q < 0.8 AU
(and 0.80 > e > 0.75) certainly arise for 1488 < T < 1494, however,
the desired date being clearly attainable with the help also of a
close approach to the earth or -- more likely -- the presence of
nongravitational forces. Further light could be shed on the
problem by the recognition of precovery and/or recovery
observations of 2003 EH_1, which is presumably a comet and that
should in any case be considered a high-priority object for further
study.
(C) Copyright 2003 CBAT
2003 December 8 (8252) Daniel W. E. Green
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