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IAUC 8416: P/2004 T1

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                                                  Circular No. 8416
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/2004 T1 (LINEAR-NEAT)
     K. J. Lawrence, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports the NEAT
discovery of a comet on images taken with the Haleakala telescope,
the object described as having a coma of diameter about 25", with
elongated images but no obvious tail.  The comet was also observed
earlier on the same night (with prediscovery observations on Sept.
21) by the LINEAR team, which made no comment on the object's
appearance; both "discovery" observations are tabulated below.
Following posting on "The NEO Confirmation Page", numerous
observers have reported on the object's cometary appearance on CCD
images obtained during Oct. 5.9-6.6 UT, including M. Tichy (Klet),
P. Birtwhistle (Great Shefford, U.K.), C. Jacques and E. Pimentel
(Belo Horizonte, Brazil), D. T. Durig and G. A. T. Morris (Sewanee,
TN), J. E. McGaha (Tucson, AZ), G. R. Jones (Tucson, AZ), and D.
Higgins (Canberra, Australia).  The general consensus is that there
is a diffuse coma of diameter about 16"-30" and a faint, broad, fan-
shaped tail about 1' wide and 4'-5' long in p.a. approximately
240-280 deg.  P. Kusnirak (Ondrejov) reports the fan tail in p.a.
about 290 deg and another tail about 4' long in p.a. about 240 deg.

     2004 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Oct.  5.26504    0 57 02.82   -12 15 12.0   17.2   LINEAR
           5.43686    0 56 55.35   -12 14 01.1   15.2   NEAT

     The available astrometry, the following preliminary orbital
elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2004-T18 (H_10 = 13.0).

     T = 2004 Nov.  5.517 TT          Peri. = 334.935
     e = 0.50537                      Node  =  51.733   2000.0
     q = 1.71781 AU                   Incl. =  11.013
       a =  3.47290 AU     n = 0.152288     P =   6.47 years

2004 TT     R. A. (2000) Decl.   Delta     r    Elong. Phase   Mag.
Oct.  2     0 59.28   -12 34.7   0.767   1.748  162.6    9.9   14.8
     12     0 52.31   -11 23.1   0.759   1.733  160.7   11.0   14.8
     22     0 46.00   - 9 36.9   0.772   1.723  154.3   14.5   14.8
Nov.  1     0 41.91   - 7 20.1   0.802   1.718  146.3   18.7   14.9
     11     0 41.00   - 4 41.0   0.850   1.719  138.0   22.7   15.0
     21     0 43.65   - 1 47.9   0.913   1.724  130.1   26.0   15.2
Dec.  1     0 49.77   + 1 11.7   0.990   1.734  122.8   28.6   15.4

                      (C) Copyright 2004 CBAT
2004 October 6                 (8416)            Daniel W. E. Green

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