------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2532 2009 Mar 16 20.34UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074 INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK Backup: gmh@wdcc1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.theastronomer.org ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET C/2009 E1 (ITAGAKI) Koichi Itagaki, Yamagata, Japan, reports the discovery of a comet with coma diameter about 70" on CCD images obtained with a 21-cm f/3 reflector (diameter of field 2.2 deg) located at Takanezawa, Tochigi, Japan, using software by H. Kaneda (Sapporo, Japan) to detect moving objects automatically. S. Nakano (Sumoto, Japan) reports the discovery and follow-up image measurement by Kaneda. Nakano adds that the comet is diffuse with weak condensation and a hint of tail toward the south, measuring total mag 11.9 from an image taken on Mar. 14.424 UT. 2009 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer Mar. 14.41509 2 48 07.10 + 8 23 31.0 12.8 Itagaki 14.41522 2 48 06.88 + 8 23 33.3 12.8 " 14.42556 2 48 05.43 + 8 24 19.4 " 14.42872 2 48 05.06 + 8 24 34.2 " 14.43199 2 48 04.57 + 8 24 47.3 " 14.44446 2 48 02.82 + 8 25 45.6 " Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero, and Paul Camilleri (observing remotely with a 0.25-m f/3.4 reflector near Mayhill, NM, USA; Mar.15.12) advise that thirty co-added 30-s unfiltered exposures show a bright inner coma with diameter of about 1'.4, and a faint external halo nearly 4' in diameter (total mag about 11.0). A confirmatory image has been received at TA from this group. Brian G. Marsden, reports on MPEC 2009-E69 the following orbital elements: T 2009 Apr. 7.385 TT MPC q 0.60809 (2000.0) P Q Peri. 47.130 +0.253052 +0.605957 Node 105.780 +0.485776 -0.753736 e 1.0 Incl. 128.398 +0.836652 +0.254357 >From 33 observations 2009 Mar. 14-15. Ephemeris: C/2009 E1 (Itagaki) Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. m1 2009 03 10 02 59.87 +01 59.8 0.841 0.858 55.0 10.5 2009 03 15 02 46.65 +09 08.6 0.943 0.789 48.0 10.3 2009 03 20 02 34.48 +14 46.6 1.050 0.727 41.5 10.2 2009 03 25 02 22.57 +19 12.9 1.156 0.675 35.6 10.1 2009 03 30 02 10.45 +22 41.2 1.256 0.635 30.1 10.0 Care is needed in view of the small solar elongation angle. Guy M Hurst