[meteorite-list] Near-Earth Object 2013 US10 Turns Out to Be a Long-Period Comet

[Ron Baalke]

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news181.html
	
Near-Earth Object 2013 US10 Turns Out to Be a Long-Period Comet
Don Yeomans and Paul Chodas
NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office
Updated November 6, 2013

While initial reports from the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge MA categorized 
object 2013 US10 as a very large near-Earth asteroid, new observations 
now indicate that it is, in fact, a long period comet, and it is now designated 
C/2013 US10 (Catalina). The comet was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey 
near Tucson AZ on October 31, 2013 and linked to earlier pre-discovery 
Catalina observations made on September 12. The initial orbit suggested 
this object is a large, short period, near-Earth asteroid, as reported 
here yesterday. An updated orbit, issued today by the Minor Planet Center 
removed the September 12th observations that belong to another object 
and include earlier pre-discovery August and September observations made 
by the Catalina Sky Survey, the ISON-HD observatory in Russia and Hawaii's 
Pan-STARRS group. The new orbit indicates that this object is in a long-period, 
near parabolic orbit about the sun. Furthermore, observations made last 
night at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope indicate the object is showing 
modest cometary activity, which means that yesterday's rough estimate 
for the object's size (about 20 kilometers or 12 miles) must now be completely 
revised. A new size estimate is not yet available, but it could very well 
be much smaller than yesterday's estimate.