Thursday, October 18, 2012

New Comet: C/2012 T6 (KOWALSKI)

Cbet nr. 3259, issued on 2012, October 18, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 17.6) by R. A. Kowalski on Catalina Sky Survey images obtained with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope on October 15.4. The new comet has been designated C/2012 T6 (KOWALSKI).

We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of 7 R-filtered exposures, 30-sec each, obtained remotely,from the Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South on 2012, Oct. 16.63, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD under good seeing conditions,shows that this object is a comet: narrow tail nearly 13" long in PA 290 and a wide, fan-shaped tail about 20" long toward the North-northwest sharp coma about 7" in diameter.

Our confirmation image (click on the image for a bigger version):


M.P.E.C. 2012-U39 assigns the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet C/2012 T6: T 2012 Aug. 25.08; e= 1.0; Peri. = 196.47; q = 1.79 AU; Incl.= 34.28.

by Ernesto Guido, Alison Tripp, Giovanni Sostero & Nick Howes

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