[IAUC] CBET 3082: 20120413 : COMET P/2011 FR143 (LEMMON)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3082
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau en eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat en iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET P/2011 FR143 (LEMMON)
     Following a suggestion by Sergio Foglia, L. Buzzi (Varese, Italy)
reports that he obtained CCD images of 2011 FR143, which was announced as an
asteroidal discovery by R. E. Hill on images taken at Mount Lemmon on 2011
Mar. 29 (discovery observations tabulated below; cf. MPS 377447), on 2012 Mar.
29.104 UT with a 0.38-m f/6.8 refector that show (via stacking by Foglia and
Buzzi) a compact coma 5" in diameter and a 10" tail in p.a. around 270 deg.
Stacked images taken by Tomas Vorobjov on 2012 Mar. 31.46 with the Western
Kentucky University 1.3-m f/13 reflector at Kitt Peak reveal a coma about 6"
across and a tail 10" long in p.a. 275 deg.  Stacked images taken by R.
Holmes (Ashmore, IL, USA; 0.81-m f/4 astrograph; 2012 Apr. 6.4; measured by L.
Buzzi, H. Devore, S. Foglia, and T. Vorobjov) show a coma of about 6" in
diameter and a 12" tail in p.a. around 270 deg.  Stacked images taken by
P. Miller, P. Roche, A. Tripp, R. Miles, R. Holmes, S. Foglia, and L. Buzzi
on 2012 Apr. 11.6 with the 2-m f/10 "Faulkes Telescope North" at Haleakala
(measured by Buzzi and Foglia) show the object to be clearly diffuse with a
coma at least 5" wide, even though the moon was only 25 deg away.

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Mar. 29.40540   12 06 23.54   - 3 33 06.0   19.4   Hill
          29.41100   12 06 23.40   - 3 33 03.6   19.5     "
          29.41655   12 06 23.25   - 3 33 01.4   19.4     "

Additional 2012 astrometry, the following elliptical orbital elements by
G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-G36.

                    Epoch = 2011 Mar. 20.0 TT
     T = 2011 Mar. 10.74431 TT        Peri. = 349.94149
     e = 0.4529925                    Node  = 191.02265 2000.0
     q = 3.7355809 AU                 Incl. =  16.01362
       a =  6.8291225 AU   n = 0.05522767   P =  17.85 years


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                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 April 13                    (CBET 3082)              Daniel W. E. Green