IAU Circular nr. 8940, issued on 2008, May 3, announces the discovery by Andrea Boattini of a new comet (his second) named C/2008 J1 (BOATTINI).
It was picked-up with the 0.68-m schmidt of the "Catalina Sky Survey" on 2008, May 2.46, and it has been described by the discoverer as having a coma diameter of nearly 50 arcsec, and a fan-shaped tail 2 arcmin long toward PA 235 deg. After posting on the Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, a number of observers performed follow-up of this object. The undersigneds observed it through the 0.45-m, f/4.4 reflector + CCD of the Remanzacco Observatory (Italy) on 2008, May 3.0: we noticed a small compact coma, almost 15 arcsec in diameter, having a total magnitude of 14.7 (m2 nearly 15.5); an apparent tail spans almost 35 arcsec toward PA 280 deg. (see image below; click on it for a bigger version).
Preliminary orbital elements from the Minor Planet Center show that this object moves along a parabolic orbit (i= 46 deg, q= 1.5 AU); perihelion has been reached in the middle of March 2008. According the current ephemerids, the new comet "Boattini" will decrease its brightness as it will recede from both, Sun and Earth.
Congratulations to Andrea Boattini!
UPDATE - May 04, 2008
This is the discovery image of C/2008 J1 (Boattini) courtesy of Andrea Boattini (30 seconds exposure by 0.68-m Schmidt + CCD):
by Giovanni Sostero & Ernesto Guido
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