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IAUC 8871: P/2007 R5 = 1999 R1 = 2003 R5 (SOHO)

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                                                  Circular No. 8871
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)
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P/2007 R5 = 1999 R1 = 2003 R5 (SOHO)
     K. Battams, Naval Research Laboratory, informs us that B. Zhou
reported his detection of a member of the 'Kracht II comet group'
in SOHO-LASCO C2 data on Sept. 10; the object was immediately
confirmed by R. Kracht as showing 'Kracht-II' group motion.  Kracht
had in Sept. 2002 (MPEC 2002-S35) and Sept. 2003 (MPEC 2004-J59)
noted the similarity of the motions of 1999 R1 (cf. IAUC 7251) to
the motions of 2002 R5 (IAUC 7984) and 2003 R5 (IAUC 8340), and B.
G. Marsden noted (MPEC 2004-J59) that his orbital elements of 2003
R5 were essentially identical with his elements of 1999 R1 that
were given on MPEC 1999-R19; following these developments a couple
of years later, S. Hoenig (2006, A.Ap. 445, 759) published his
prediction that the presumed single object 1999 R1 = 2003 R5 would
return to perihelion around 2007 Sept. 11.26 UT.  All the 'Kracht
II' objects were uncritically called "comets" when announced,
despite their lack of an obvious coma or tail (on the standing
assumption that the SOHO objects must generally be either active or
extinct cometary nuclei); the cometary designation 2007 R5 has been
assigned to these new observations to follow the pattern of earlier
designations, but with mild support also from the photometric
behavior of the object (see also IAUC 8872).

     2007 UT            R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Sept.10.28755    11 18 09     + 3 52.8     8.8

     Battams has now submitted his measurements for C2 and C3
images of 2007 R5 (initial observation tabulated above), as well as
astrometric remeasurements from C2 images (only) for 1999 R1 and
2003 R5.  The reduced positions by Marsden appear on MPEC 2007-S16,
together with linked orbital elements by Marsden for C2 data only
from all three apparitions (satisfying 44 observations with mean
residual 9".6), including those given below; the excluded C3
positions have systematic residuals > 1'.

                    Epoch = 2007 Sept.17.0 TT
     T = 2007 Sept.11.3197 TT         Peri. =  48.5655
     e = 0.978649                     Node  =   0.0489  2000.0
     q = 0.053720 AU                  Incl. =  12.6400
       a =  2.516068 AU    n = 0.2469565    P =   3.99 years

                      (C) Copyright 2007 CBAT
2007 September 18              (8871)            Daniel W. E. Green

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