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IAUC 8904: C/2007 Y1; V458 Vul

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                                                  Circular No. 8904
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://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET C/2007 Y1 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered by the LINEAR
survey (discovery observation tabulated below), and posted on the
Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, has been reported to show
cometary appearance by several CCD astrometrists.  K. Sarneczky
writes that a 960-s co-added unfiltered image taken with the 0.60-m
Schmidt telescope at Konkoly Observatory on Dec. 17.15 UT shows a
10" coma and a 15"-long tail in p.a. 220 deg.  E. Guido and G.
Sostero (Castellammare di Stabia, Italy) report that thirty co-
added 60-s unfiltered exposures obtained remotely using a 0.25-m
f/3.4 reflector near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A., on Dec. 17.41-17.47 show
a compact coma nearly 8" in diameter, slightly elongated toward the
southwest; a similar co-adding of exposures from Dec. 18.46-18.47
shows the presence of a coma nearly 10" in diameter.  J. G. Ries
writes that, in images obtained in less-than-ideal conditions with
the McDonald Observatory 0.76-m reflector (+ prime-focus corrector)
on Dec. 18.45-18.47, the object seems extended, showing a slight
asymmetry toward the southwest.

     2007 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Dec. 16.37807   10 04 42.65   -15 05 40.6   18.8

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2007-Y22.

     T = 2008 Mar. 10.736 TT          Peri. = 354.944
                                      Node  = 133.191   2000.0
     q = 3.38036 AU                   Incl. = 110.137


V458 VULPECULAE
     T. R. Prater, R. J. Rudy, D. K. Lynch, T. R. Prater, and S.
Mazuk, The Aerospace Corporation; R. B. Perry, Langley Research
Center, NASA; and R. C. Puetter, University of California, San
Diego, report on 0.47- to 2.5-micron spectroscopy of V458 Vul (cf.
IAUC 8861, 8863, 8883) that was obtained on Dec. 15 UT using VNIRIS
on the Lick 3-m telescope.  The object's emission spectrum has
moved rapidly to higher excitation and shows weak unidentified
novae lines and strong He I and II lines.  Also present were [Fe
VII] lines at 572.1 and 608.7 nm.  The spectrum showed a variety of
line profiles:  Gaussian, flat-topped, and doubled.

                      (C) Copyright 2007 CBAT
2007 December 18               (8904)            Daniel W. E. Green

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