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IAUC 8458: COMET P/2004 Y1 (CHRISTENSEN); C/2004 V14, V15, W1-W6

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                                                  Circular No. 8458
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 Y1 (CHRISTENSEN)
     Eric J. Christensen, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, reports
his discovery of a comet in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey
on images taken with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope (discovery
observation below), noting a coma of diameter about 15" and a
fan-shaped tail 20" long in p.a. 270 deg.  Following posting on the
'NEO Confirmation Page', J. Young writes that his images taken at
Table Mountain on Dec. 22.4 UT show the object with a round 8" coma
and a broad fan-shaped tail spanning p.a. 210-290 deg (the faint
tail edge at p.a. 210 deg extends 20", while the brighter edge at
p.a. 290 deg extends only 14").

     2004 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Dec. 21.47360   11 02 23.99   +22 52 57.8   16.5

The available astrometry (including prediscovery observations by
LINEAR back to Dec. 9), the following orbital elements, and an
ephemeris appear on MPEC 2004-Y47.

     T = 2004 June 21.588 TT          Peri. = 325.364
     e = 0.54459                      Node  =  88.689   2000.0
     q = 1.64584 AU                   Incl. =  16.242
       a =  3.61398 AU     n = 0.143458     P =   6.87 years


COMETS C/2004 V14, V15, W1-W6
     Further to IAUC 8455, following are the initial observations
of additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found on SOHO website images
(TS = T. Scarmato).  K. Battams notes that C/2004 V15 was fairly
bright with a short tail.

 Comet        2004 UT      R.A.(2000)Decl.   Inst.  F    MPEC
 C/2004 V14   Nov. 14.096  15 11.2  -20 43   C3/2   MM   2004-Y37
 C/2004 V15        15.904  15 20.6  -22 20   C3/2   TH   2004-Y37
 C/2004 W1         16.254  15 24.9  -20 20   C2     TH   2004-Y37
 C/2004 W2         18.513  15 31.9  -21 34   C3/2   TS   2004-Y37
 C/2004 W3         19.513  15 35.6  -22 38   C3/2   RK   2004-Y38
 C/2004 W4         21.785  15 49.0  -21 45   C2     BZ   2004-Y38
 C/2004 W5         22.368  15 52.1  -21 51   C2     SH   2004-Y38
 C/2004 W6         23.213  15 55.6  -22 05   C2     XL   2004-Y38

                      (C) Copyright 2004 CBAT
2004 December 22               (8458)            Daniel W. E. Green

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