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Comet C/2006 S3 (LONEOS)

IAUC 8752: COMET C/2006 S3 (LONEOS)

     B. Skiff reports the LONEOS discovery of a comet (discovery observation tabulated below); confirming 5-min R-band CCD frames taken by Mandushev (Lowell Observatory) using the Hall 1.1-m telescope at Lowell's Anderson Mesa station show the comet to be moderately condensed with a coma 11" in diameter, somewhat asymmetric toward the east.  Following posting on the 'NEO Confirmation Page', other observers have confirmed the cometary appearance.  E. J. Christensen reports that four stacked 30-s prediscovery Catalina Sky Survey observations obtained by A. R. Gibbs in good seeing with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope on Sept. 17.32-17.36 UT reveal a 10" coma and no tail; Christensen's own observations (four 30-s co-added frames) from Sept. 20.3 also show a 10" coma.  P. Birtwhistle (Great Shefford, Berkshire, U.K., 0.40-m f/6 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector) reports that three CCD images taken in poor seeing on Sept. 20.0 show the object to be noticably diffuse with a diameter of 10", possibly elongated to 15" in p.a. 100/280 deg, with no obvious tail; his images from Sept. 21.1 in better seeing indicate the object to be diffuse and rather unconcentrated, elongated east-west with dimensions approximately 9" x 6", with the center of light being slightly offset to the east, and again no apparent tail.  Images taken by J. Young at Table Mountain (0.61-m f/16 Cassegrain reflector) on Sept. 20.31- 20.35 show a coma of diameter 10" with very little condensation toward the center and no tail noted; his frames from Sept. 21.32- 21.40 show a very diffuse 12" coma with little or no central condensation, possibly elongated toward p.a. 110 deg.  R. Miles (Stourton Caundle, Dorset, U.K., 0.28-m f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector) writes that his images from Sept. 21.0 show a coma of diameter about 8"; his frames from Sept. 21.12-21.15 also reveal a faint tail.

Photometrica data obtained from FOCAS-II software

COD B96

CON BRIXIIS observatory  -  B-9150 Kruibeke, Belgium

CATALOG: USNO A2.0 / CMC-14 - BAND: R

                                  10x10  20x20  30x30  40x40  50x50  60x60   SNR   SB   COD

OBJECT        DATE       TIME        +/-    +/-    +/-    +/-    +/-    +/-     N  FWHM  CAT

------------  ---------- --------  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  ----  ----  ---

C/2006 S3     18/07/2010 00:46:01  16.51  15.82  15.57  15.42  15.40  15.40   8.6  17.5  B96

C/2006 S3     18/07/2010 00:46:01*  0.06   0.04   0.06   0.09   0.15   0.18     8   4.0  USN

C/2006 S3     19/07/2010 00:26:00  16.53  15.95  15.77  15.72  15.79          8.5  17.6  B96

C/2006 S3     19/07/2010 00:26:00*  0.06   0.07   0.07   0.08   0.10           11   4.2  CMC

C/2006 S3     24/05/2012 23:01:16  14.33  13.57  13.26  13.06  12.93  12.85  25.8  17.4  B96

C/2006 S3     13/05/2012 00:22:59  14.48  13.80  13.51  13.34  13.24  13.20  29.6  17.2  B96

C/2006 S3     13/05/2012 00:22:59*  0.04   0.04   0.04   0.04   0.05   0.05     8   3.5  CMC

C/2006 S3     24/05/2012 23:01:16*  0.01   0.03   0.03   0.03   0.03   0.04     7   3.6  CMC

C/2006 S3     06/07/2012 22:14:38  14.36  13.71  13.41  13.23  13.11  13.05  39.4  17.0  B96

C/2006 S3     06/07/2012 22:14:38*  0.02   0.02   0.04   0.06   0.09   0.11     7   4.8  CMC