IAUC nr.8977, issued on 2008, September 19, announces the discovery of a 17-magnitude comet by R. H. McNaught about 2.5 deg. northwest of Antares (Alfa Scorpii). It was described by the discoverer, and afterward by several astrometrists that perfermed confirmatory follow-up, as having a coma about 8 to 30-arcsec in diameter, with an extension (tail or elongated coma) 10 to 20-arcsec long toward North-East.
We performed some follow-up of this object with a 0.25-m, f/6 reflector + CCD from the Moorook Observatory (Australia) on 2008, Sept. 18.5, founding an obvious coma nearly 12-arcsec in diameter:
http://tinyurl.com/4eq4je
Preliminary orbital elements, published on M.P.E.C. 2008-S10, assume a parabolic orbit, with inclination of about 18 deg, and perihelion on 2008, Sept. 21 (r~ 1.35 AU). The comet is now receding from both, Earth and Sun, and will get progressively fainter. Updated ephemerids are available at the Minor Planet Center website:
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2008S1.html
by Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero and Paul Camilleri
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