------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2795 2012 Jan 18 13.10UT 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/2012 A2 (LINEAR) Further to the note on TA E-Circular 2794 of the detection of a possible comet by MASTER-TUNKA, we mentioned it had also been detected by LINEAR. On CBET 2977, the object has been designated Comet C/2012 A2 (LINEAR) and Peter Birtwhistle advises us (also on CBET) that his images with a 0.40-m f/6 reflector on Jan 16 showed it diffuse with a diameter of 12", total red mag 17.7 and a moderately concentrated centre. The southwest edge is less definite than the northwest edge, and a faint tail is suspected, extending 20" in p.a. 240 deg. Additional images by Birtwhistle on Jan. 17.2 show identical appearance. The following preliminary parabolic orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appeared on MPEC 2012-B05. T 2012 Nov. 7.80977 TT MPC q 3.4987526 (2000.0) P Q Peri. 102.78894 +0.10241863 +0.98150857 Node 191.52695 +0.24166571 +0.13314731 e 1.0 Incl. 125.97615 +0.96493943 -0.13752355 >From 41 observations 2012 Jan. 15-17. Ephemeris: Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. m1 2012 01 10 12 54 11.8 +40 26 29 4.0108 4.4333 109.3 18.0 2012 01 16 12 53 12.3 +42 27 59 3.9092 4.4017 114.0 17.9 2012 01 17 12 52 57.0 +42 48 58 3.8931 4.3964 114.7 17.9 2012 01 18 12 52 40.1 +43 10 09 3.8772 4.3912 115.5 17.9 2012 01 24 12 50 22.2 +45 21 04 3.7881 4.3600 119.7 17.8 2012 02 01 12 45 27.3 +48 23 37 3.6865 4.3188 124.3 17.7 2012 02 16 12 29 10.6 +54 13 00 3.5561 4.2434 128.6 17.5 Guy M Hurst