------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2632 2010 Mar 27 14.40UT 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/2010 F4 (MACHHOLZ) Don Machholz reports on IAU Circular 9132 that he has visually discovered a diffuse comet with coma diameter about 2', using a 0.47-m f/4.8 reflector (77x) from Colfax, USA, in the course of his comet-hunting program on Mar. 23. Positions follow along with confirmations by other observers: 2010 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer Mar. 23.526 22 54.2 +31 22 11 Machholz 26.515 23 23.5 +32 14 12 " 26.80750 23 25 47.20 +32 13 14.8 13.9 Ikari 26.81116 23 25 49.37 +32 13 16.8 " 26.81482 23 25 51.44 +32 13 19.0 " 26.82056 23 25 54.80 +32 13 22.6 " 26.82158 23 25 55.40 +32 13 23.3 12.3 Kadota 26.82296 23 25 56.18 +32 13 23.6 " 26.82734 23 25 58.73 +32 13 26.3 14.7 Ikari A follow-up observation by Don on the morning of Mar. 26, suggests it is moving rapidly towards the Sun. According to IAUC 9132 Don has searched for 607 hours since his previous find on 2004 Aug. 27. The following parabolic orbital elements are extremely uncertain: T = 2010 Apr. 10.669 TT, q = 0.58698 AU, Peri. = 135.062, Node = 245.662, i = 86.831 (equinox 2000.0). Ephemeris using H_(7.5) = 12.0: 2010 TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase Mag. Mar. 27 23 27.63 +32 15.1 1.246 0.671 32.5 53.0 11.2 28 23 37.26 +32 22.1 1.251 0.661 31.7 52.5 11.1 29 23 46.84 +32 25.3 1.258 0.651 30.9 51.9 11.1 30 23 56.35 +32 24.8 1.266 0.642 30.1 51.3 11.1 31 00 05.76 +32 20.6 1.274 0.633 29.3 50.5 11.0 SUPERNOVA 2010H IN IC 494 Discovery by LOSS of a possible supernova (CBET 2130): SN 2010 UT R.A. (2000.0) Decl. Mag. Offset 2010H Jan 16.43 08 06 24.36 +01 02 09.1 15.3 3.9"E, 0.7"S SUPERNOVAE 2010I-2010M CRTS discoveries of faint supernovae (CBET 2131): SN 2010 UT R.A. (2000.0) Decl. Mag. Offset 2010I Jan. 8.46 10 12 13.27 - 1 49 00.1 18.1 -- 2010J Jan. 8.49 11 15 26.75 + 8 06 43.7 19.7 1".8 W, 0".4 2010K Jan. 8.49 12 02 46.87 + 2 24 06.1 16.4 1".4 W, 3".5 2010L Jan. 12.12 2 23 28.78 + 5 35 30.6 18.5 0".5 E, 2".7 2010M Jan. 13.14 3 21 37.59 +26 36 50.3 18.8 0".6 W, 1".8 SUPERNOVA 2010N Discovery by Catalina Sky Survey of a possible supernova (CBET 2138): SN 2010 UT R.A. (2000.0) Decl. Mag. Offset 2010N Jan 12.50 13 09 05.24 +17 04 22.3 16.7 -- Guy M Hurst