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IAUC 8531: P/2005 JQ_5; 2QZ J142701.6-012310

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                                                  Circular No. 8531
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/2005 JQ_5 (CATALINA)
     An apparently asteroidal object found by the Catalina Survey,
and designated 2005 JQ_5 (cf. MPEC 2005-J29; discovery observation
given below), has been found to show a bright asymmetric coma on
seven 40-s co-added R-band CCD exposures taken by C. Snodgrass, S.
C. Lowry, and A. Fitzsimmons with the 2.0-m Faulkes Telescope-North
on May 17.5 UT.  Earlier reports mentioned hints at "softness" of
the object's images (S. Larson, discovery frames with the 0.68-m
Schmidt telescope) and a 1'-diameter very-low-surface-brightness
coma (B. A. Skiff, LONEOS 0.59-m Schmidt telescope, May 11.3).

     2005 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     May   6.27858   15 14 09.92   - 3 10 44.3   16.7

Additional astrometry, elliptical orbital elements (T = 2005 July
28.1 TT, q = 0.826 AU, Peri. = 222.7 deg, Node = 95.8 deg, i = 5.7
deg, equinox 2000.0, e = 0.690, P = 4.35 yr), and an ephemeris
appear on MPEC 2005-K14.


2QZ J142701.6-012310
     E. Rykoff, Physics Department, University of Michigan, on
behalf of the ROTSE collaboration, reports that ROTSE-III sky-
patrol images taken on Jan.23 revealed an outburst of 2QZ
J142701.6-012310 (initially classified as a possible blazar in the
2dF quasar survey by Veron-Cetty and Veron 2003, A.Ap. 412, 399) at
mag R = 15.1; the variable was not detected in ROTSE-III images
taken on Jan. 21 (R > 18.0).  The object is visible as a very blue
pointlike object in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at R = 20.4.
Rykoff adds that a spectrum taken on Jan. 25 with the Hobby-Eberly
Telescope at McDonald Observatory shows no obvious absorption or
emission features.
     P. A. Woudt and B. Warner, University of Cape Town (UCT),
report that 2QZ J142701.6-012310 appears to be a new AM CVn-type
cataclysmic variable.  High-speed photometry during quiescence (V
about 20.3), obtained with the South African Astronomical
Observatory 1.9-m telescope (+ UCT CCD camera) on May 15 and 16 has
revealed a photometric modulation at 2194 +/- 4 s, typical of an AM
CVn-type variable.  Spectroscopy obtained in quiescence (Croom et
al. 2004, MNRAS 349, 1397) and during its January outburst (Rykoff
et al., above) shows that the spectrum appears rich in helium,
consistent with it being a double-degenerate helium-transferring
binary (only the twelfth-known such object).

                      (C) Copyright 2005 CBAT
2005 May 17                    (8531)            Daniel W. E. Green

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