Comet C/2010 U3 (Boattini)

November 07, 2010
A. Boattini reports his discovery of a faint comet with a moderately diffuse coma that is 6"-7" wide and a central condensation that is about 3"-4" in size on four 30-s co-added CCD exposures taken with the Mt. Lemmon 1.5-m reflector in Arizona.

The coma was a bit elongated in p.a. 330 deg, but no clear tail is visible. After posting on the 'NEOCP' webpage, other CCD astrometrists have also reported on the object's cometary appearance, including W. H. Ryan, L. Elenin, S. Foglia, A. Novichonok, E. Romas, J. E. McGaha, E. Guido, N. Howes, and G. Sostero, S. Foglia and T. Vorobjov and G. Hug.

 The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements by B. G. Marsden, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2010-V55. 

 C/2010 U3 (Boattini)
 T 2016 Oct. 17.014 TT
q  11.46126              (2000.0)            P               Q
                  Peri.   52.271       -0.096758       -0.918047
                  Node    48.173       +0.670559       -0.345595
e   1.0           Incl.   31.063       +0.735519       +0.194303 
From 66 observations 2010 Oct. 31-Nov. 5.
Source:
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/09100/09182.html