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IAUC 8962: C/2008 O1; 2007 TY_430; THE EDGAR WILSON AWARD 2008

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 8962
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/2008 O1 (SOHO)
     Further to IAUC 8961, a Kreutz sungrazing comet has been found
on SOHO-LASCO coronagraph C3 website images by H. Su (discovery
observation tabulated below); according to K. Battams, the object
is very small and essentially stellar in appearance with a hint of
elongation (mag about 7.5 on July 31.738 UT).

 Comet        2008 UT       R.A.(2000)Decl.   Inst.  F    MPEC
 C/2008 O1    July 31.596    8 23.2  +16 01   C3     HS   2008-O67

This relatively bright Kreutz fragment might be observable during
the total solar eclipse on Aug. 1.39-1.47 near R.A. = 8h38m, Decl.
= +16.8 deg (equinox 2000.0).  The following very preliminary
parabolic orbital elements from 16 observations were published on
MPEC 2008-P01, together with two ephemerides to indicate the
uncertainty in the predicted position during totality.

     T = 2008 Aug.  1.68 TT           Peri. =  91.48
                                      Node  =  11.90    2000.0
     q = 0.0042 AU                    Incl. = 143.38


2007 TY_430
     S. S. Sheppard, Carnegie Institution of Washington; and C. A.
Trujillo, Gemini Observatory, report the discovery of a satellite
to the transneptunian minor planet 2007 TY_430 (cf. MPEC 2008-M38)
on images taken on 2007 Oct. 14 at Mauna Kea; images were obtained
on several dates with the 8.3-m Subaru, 8.2-m Gemini, and 6.5-m
Magellan telescopes.  At discovery, the binary had a separation of
about 0".6 (or at least 13000 km between components) in p.a. about
230 deg.  The two components appear to have a brightness within
about 0.1 mag of each other.  The individual components' g'-i'
colors also appear to be very similar.  Ongoing monitoring of the
binary shows a period of well over 1 year.


THE EDGAR WILSON AWARD 2008
     The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory announces that the
2008 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets (cf. IAUC 6936,
8854) is being divided among the following two individuals for the
discovery of C/2008 C1:  Tao Chen (Suzhou City, Jiangsu province,
China) and Xing Gao (Urumqi, Xinjiang province, China).

                      (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2008 August 1                  (8962)            Daniel W. E. Green

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