------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2538 2009 Apr 08 14.39UT 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 2009 F6 On 2009 Apr. 4, R. D. Matson informed the Central Bureau that he had found a possible comet on ultraviolet SWAN images posted at the SOHO website and a search ephemeris was then posted on the 'NEOCP' webpage generating several responses on IAUC 9034. 2009 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer Mar. 29 23 03 +51.5 SWAN 31 23 16 +52.5 " Apr. 1 23 24 +53 " 3 23 36 +53 " 4 23 46 +54 " 6.15 23 54.0 +54 41.5 8.2 Gonzalez 6.20771 23 54 17.90 +54 42 26.3 14.5 Hormuth 6.45823 23 56 18.14 +54 47 35.9 13.8 Guido J. J. Gonzalez (Spain). Visual, 15-cm reflector; coma diameter 6'. F. Hormuth (Spain). 1.23-m reflector; 1'.5 coma with a well-defined core, in twilight. E. Guido, G. Sostero, and P. Camilleri (Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.). Remotely controlled 25-cm f/3.4 reflector; diffuse coma about 2'.5 in diameter, with a sharp central condensation 20" in diameter. Subsequently Bjorn Granslo, Norway notified TA of a visual observation on April 7.06UT when m1 was estimated to be 8.5 in a 0.203-m Schmidt Cassegrain telescope at x77, coma diameter 4'. Bjorn adds: The comet showed a diffuse coma of quite low surface brightness; it was seen at RA 00h 01.2m DEC +55o 00' (2000). An image of April 6 was also received from Montse Campas, a TA subscriber based in Spain (MPC 213). In a 60"x60" box, the magnitude was measured as 11.3. Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero also submitted an image obtained on April 7.5UT using a remote telescope in New Mexico showing the comet in the field of the star cluster NGC 7789. Guy M Hurst