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IAUC 8346: C/2004 H6

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                                                  Circular No. 8346
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 C/2004 H6 (SWAN)
     On May 13, the Central Bureau was informed apparently
independently by X.-m. Zhou, K. Cernis, and M. Mattiazzo of the
existence of a possible unknown comet on the low-resolution
ultraviolet SWAN images taken from the SOHO spacecraft.  As there
have been numerous never-confirmed reports to the Central Bureau of
such objects over the last couple of years, despite a great
exertion of effort to have them confirmed by ground-based observers,
we proceeded with caution to try and get solid confirming evidence
of a real comet.  Reports trickled in (as can be seen from the
table below), but successive attempts to produce search ephemerides
met with some negative results that indicated some of the early
positions were apparently not of the new comet.

     2004 UT           R.A. (2000.0) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Apr. 29          4 09         - 9.4                SWAN
     May   2          4 05         -10.3                  "
           5          3 59         -10.6                  "
           8          3 56         -11.4                  "
          14.388      3 45 56      -11 47.5       7.8   Mattiazzo
          14.444      3 46.0       -11 44         7.9   Pearce
          16.37777    3 42 51.52   -12 01 01.7    9.2   Mattiazzo
          21.84565    3 33 47.86   -12 37 44.4            "
          21.85200    3 33 47.24   -12 37 46.1            "
          21.85689    3 33 46.57   -12 37 47.7            "
          21.86298    3 33 46.46   -12 37 50.1            "
          22.807      3 32 18      -12 41.2       7.5   Drescher
          25.84159    3 26 56.59   -12 57 13.4          Mattiazzo
          25.84900    3 26 55.70   -12 57 13.5            "
          25.85747    3 26 54.98   -12 57 15.4            "
          25.86269    3 26 54.43   -12 57 16.5            "

M. Mattiazzo (Wallaroo, S. Australia).  Visually with 25x100
  binoculars on May 14; coma diameter 3'.  CCD astrometry:  May 16,
  135-mm telephoto lens.  May 21, long. = 138o40'58", lat. =
  -31o08'26"; narrow tail > 8' long in p.a. 187 deg (0.28-m
  reflector).  May 25, long. = 135.550 deg, lat. = -34.926 deg
  (0.28-m refl.).
A. Pearce (Nedlands, W.A.).  Visual, 0.20-m refl.  Moderately
  condensed.
C. Drescher (Leyburn, Qld.).  40x100 binoculars; diffuse coma of
  diameter 1'.5 with some condensation.

                      (C) Copyright 2004 CBAT
2004 May 27                    (8346)            Daniel W. E. Green

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