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M.V. Sykes (Univ. Arizona), P.E. Painter (Univ. Texas Austin), R.M. Cutri (Cal Tech), D.J. Tholen (Univ. Hawaii)
The Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) observed the entire sky in three near-infrared bands, J, H, and Ks, between June 1997 and February 2001. Over the course of the survey, 49 2MASS sources were associated with predicted positions of comets. Visual inspection and comparison with digitized Palomar Sky Survey images excluded associations that were stars, resulting in 28 observations of 22 comets. Many were pre-discovery images (P/Li 2, P/ Spahr 2, C/Mueller 1998 K1, C/LINEAR 1999 K5, C/LINEAR 1998 M2, C/LINEAR 1998 T1, and C/Delcanton 1999 F2 - IAUC 7500 and confirming S. Yoshida, private communication). C/LINEAR 2000 SV74 was detected before perihelion at a distance of 6.1 AU indicating significant activity arising from volatile ices such as CO. Variations in near-infrared colors with heliocentric distance, comet type, and radially within comas will be explored.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35 #4
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.