* Astronomy

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RE: Comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-GRAUER)

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Comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-Grauer) makes its closest approach to the Earth (4.994 AU) on the 16th December 2013

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Comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-Grauer) makes its closest approach to the Earth (4.828 AU) on the 19th November, 2012

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Title: Comet P/2010 TO20 LINEAR-Grauer as a Mini-29P/SW1
Authors: Pedro Lacerda

Discovered in October 2010 by the LINEAR survey, P/2010 TO20 LINEAR-Grauer (LG) was initially classified as an inert Jupiter Trojan. Subsequent observations obtained in October 2011 revealed LG to be a Jupiter-family comet. LG has one of the largest perihelia (q=5.1 AU) and lowest eccentricities (e=0.09) of the known JFCs. We report on observations of LG taken on 29 October 2011 and numerical simulations of its orbital evolution. Analysis of our data reveals that LG has a small nucleus (<3 km in radius) with broadband colours (B-R=0.99±0.06 mag, V-R=0.47±0.06 mag) typical of JFCs. We find a model dependent mass-loss rate close to 100 kg/s, most likely powered by water-ice sublimation. Our numerical simulation indicate that the orbit of LG is unstable on very short (10 to 100 year) timescales and suggest this object has recently evolved into its current location from a more distant, Centaur-type orbit. The orbit, dynamics and activity of LG share similarities with the well known case of comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1.

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Glamorgan student Antos Kasprzyk helps discover a comet

An astronomy student at the University of Glamorgan helped discover a comet which shares Jupiter's orbit.
It comes after a sixth form student on work experience this summer helped discover 22 new asteroids between Mars and Jupiter.
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Orbital elements:
    P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-Grauer)
Epoch 2011 Aug. 27.0 TT = JDT 2455800.5
T 2008 Aug. 27.90514 TT                                 MPC
q   5.0655649            (2000.0)            P               Q
n   0.07450287     Peri.  250.17537     +0.40720181     +0.91277530
a   5.5935482      Node    43.89758     -0.81971740     +0.38071821
e   0.0943915      Incl.    2.65029     -0.40280277     +0.14796923
P  13.23
From 39 observations 2010 Oct. 1-2011 Oct. 20

MPEC 2011 - U41

Comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-GRAUER) was discovered on the 1st October, 2010, by LINEAR.
The preliminary orbital elements of the comet indicate a perihelion passage on the 27th August, 2008, at a distance of 5.0 AU from the Sun, and an orbital period of 13.23 years.