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COMET 493P/LONEOS -  (= 2005 SB_216 = 2024 Q2)

Af(rho) data according the CARA-approach is available via request to CARA-coordinator

http://cara.uai.it

Comet 493P/LONEOS (astro.vanbuitenen.nl)

Discovery: [ IAUC 8668 ]

An apparently asteroidal object discovered by the LONEOS project that was designated 2005 SB_216 by the Minor Planet Center

 has been found to show cometary appearance.  S. Foglia, Novara Veveri, Italy, reports that CCD observations that he obtained with G. Galli, S. Minuto, and D. Crespi using a 0.40-m f/4 reflector on 2005 Dec. 7 and 29 show the object to be slightly diffuse; Foglia adds that CCD frames taken by L. Buzzi with a 0.60-m f/4.6 reflector at Varese on 2006 Feb. 4.8 UT also show diffuseness.  F. Bernardi, D. J. Tholen, and J.Pittichova, University of Hawaii (UH), report that two R-band 600-s exposures taken with the UH 2.2-m reflector at Mauna Kea on Feb. 7.27 show the object to be fuzzy and slightly elongated about 2".7 in p.a. about 78 deg; in an aperture of 4".4, the magnitude was 19.2.

Recovery:  [CBET 5439 ]

On Aug. 30, Martin Masek (Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences) reported an apparent recovery of comet P/2005 SB_216 (cf. IAUC 8668) on CCD images obtained with a 0.25-m f/6.8 reflector (known as the "Fotometric Robotic Atmospheric Monitor") located at the site of the Cherenkov Telescope Array, La Palma, Spain, with two additional nights of astrometry coming later (as tabulated below).  Masek notes that the object appears essentially stellar (though the head of the comet has a size around 4".9 full-width-at-half-

maximum) in 3".5-4".2 seeing on the first night.