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IAUC 8748: P/2006 R2; SW UMa

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 8748
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/2006 R2 (CHRISTENSEN)
     E. J. Christensen reports his discovery of a comet on Catalina
Sky Survey images taken with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope, on which
the new object displays a 15" coma with a short tail toward p.a.
300 deg in four 30-s stacked images (discovery observation
tabulated below).  Following posting on the 'NEO Confirmation Page',
several other observers have noted the object's cometary appearance
on their CCD images, including R. H. McNaught (Siding Spring, 0.5-m
Uppsala Schmidt telescope; Sept. 14.57 UT, 12" coma with 20" tail
in p.a. 290 deg), C. Jacques and E. Pimentel (Belo Horizonte,
Brazil, 0.30-m f/3 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope; Sept. 15.14-15.16,
central condensation in a coma of diameter 22" and a small faint
tail 50" long in p.a. 280 deg), and J. E. McGaha (Tucson, AZ,
0.36-m f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector; Sept. 15.4, faint, round
4" coma with a faint 8" elongation in p.a. 300 deg in ten stacked
60-s images).

     2006 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Sept.14.32179   23 16 44.03   -16 45 49.6   17.5

The available astrometry, the following preliminary orbital
elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2006-R52.

     T = 2006 June 30.430 TT          Peri. = 192.397
     e = 0.27891                      Node  = 138.283   2000.0
     q = 2.98538 AU                   Incl. =  15.688
       a =  4.14011 AU     n = 0.117000     P =   8.4 years


SW URSAE MAJORIS
     E. O. Waagen, AAVSO, reports that the cataclysmic variable SW
UMa is in superoutburst for the first time since Oct. 2002, when
the star reached visual mag 10.5 and was brighter than mag 13.5 for
17 days (the normal minimum visual mag being approximately 17).
Visual magnitudes reported to the AAVSO:  Aug. 21.876, [13.5 (D.
Naillon, Lithons, France); Sept. 12.140, [13.0 (P. Schmeer,
Bischmisheim, Germany); 13.149, 10.8 (Schmeer); 14.036, 10.2 (S.
Swierczynski, Dobczyce, Poland); 14.138, 10.4 (Schmeer); 14.172,
10.4 (Schmeer); 15.024, 10.1 (Swierczynski).  Waagen adds that the
outburst frequency of SW UMa varies a lot, from less than a year to
as long as 5 years, as does the pattern of normal outbursts versus
superoutbursts; prior to the 2002 outburst, there had been an
outburst only 15 months previously.

                      (C) Copyright 2006 CBAT
2006 September 15              (8748)            Daniel W. E. Green

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