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Comet C/2010 J2 (McNAUGHT)

R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a comet  on CCD images taken with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring, noting the object to be slightly diffuse with a circular coma of diameter about 10" and no tail. After posting on the Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, other CCD astrometrists have commented on the object's cometary appearance. S. Foglia writes that thirty stacked 60-s unfiltered exposures taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore, IL, U.S.A.) with a 0.61-m telescope on May 9.4 UT show a diffuse coma nearly 10" in diameter; Foglia adds that eight stacked 120-s images taken by P. Concari, G. Galli, M. Tombelli, and himself remotely with a 0.18-m reflector located at the Tzec Maun Observatory (Moorook, Australia) on May 9.7 also show a diffuse coma of size about 10". R-band frames taken by W. H. Ryan and E. V. Ryan with the Magdalena Ridge Observatory 2.4-m reflector on May 9.44-9.46 show a coma with a distinct tail in p.a. about 190 deg. H. Sato (Ota-ku, Tokyo, Japan) finds a condensed coma 10" in diameter on images taken remotely on May 9.45 with a 0.25-m reflector at the RAS Observatory, Mayhill, NM, U.S.A. A. C. Gilmore and P. M. Kilmartin obtained 120-s exposures on May 9.6 with the Mt. John 1.0-m f/7.7 reflector that show a starlike head and a 15" tail in p.a. 180 deg. R. Ligustri (Talmassons, Udine, Italy; remotely using a 0.40-m f/9 reflector of the RAS Observatory, Moorook, on May 9.8) reports that eight stacked 180-s exposures show a 15" coma elongated toward p.a. 195 deg. 2010 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer May 8.75196 22 07 37.15 -12 34 34.4 17.5 McNaught The available astrometry, the following very preliminary parabolic orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2010-J59. T = 2010 Apr. 6.273 TT Peri. = 351.698 Node = 312.070 2000.0 q = 3.42754 AU Incl. = 124.034

Brian Marsden notes on MPEC 2010-N57 [2010 July 13] that

The "original" and "future" barycentric values of 1/a are +0.000577 and +0.000568 (+/- 0.000044) AU^-1, respectively.

The moderate "original" value suggests that this comet has made a previous visit to the inner solar system.