Electronic Telegram No. 3020
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@eps.harvard.edu<mailto:cbatiau%40eps.harvard.edu>
(alternate cbat@iau.org<mailto:cbat%40iau.org>)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network

COMET C/2012 CH_17 (MOSS)
An apparently asteroidal object discovery reported by Claudine Rinner
(discovery observations tabulated below) on CCD images taken with a
0.5-m f/3
reflector in the course of the Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey (MOSS),
operated
at a site 80 km south of Marrakesh by the Cadi Ayyad University -- and
assigned the minor-planet designation 2012 CH_17 by the Minor Planet
Center,
with an initial orbit appearing on MPEC 2012-C43 (the "Daily Orbit
Update" for
Feb. 12), with the object posted in the MPC's online lists of unusual
objects
-- has been found to show cometary appearance by other CCD
astrometrists. H.
Sato (Tokyo, Japan, 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph; Feb. 12.93 UT) found a
strongly
condensed coma 15" in diameter with a hint of a split tail 30" long
toward
p.a. 225 and 315 degrees; the total V-band magnitude was 17.9 as measured
within a circular aperture of radius 7".5. J. V. Scotti writes that
stacked
60-s images obtained in heavy moonlight with the Spacewatch 1.8-m f/2.7
reflector (+ Schott OG-515 filter; bandpass 515-950 nm; 0".62/pixel; Feb.
13.45-13.46) show a coma diameter of 10" and a tail that extends 0'.33 in
p.a. 264 degrees.

2012 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer
Feb. 7.12218 11 43 11.55 +24 42 22.3 17.9 Rinner
7.13634 11 43 11.36 +24 42 31.9 18.0 "
7.15047 11 43 11.14 +24 42 42.8 18.3 "
7.16462 11 43 10.82 +24 42 52.9 18.2 "
8.18604 11 42 53.28 +24 55 19.7 18.4 "
8.21014 11 42 52.89 +24 55 37.4 18.7 "
8.23407 11 42 52.41 +24 55 54.9 18.7 "

The available astrometry (including prediscovery astrometry at
Catalina from
Feb. 2), the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements by G. V.
Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-C48.