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L. French Emmons, G. Narayan, S. Oppegard (Illinois Wesleyan University)
On February 6, 2002, minor planet 2002 CE10 was discovered with the LINEAR telescope. The semi-major axis of the object's orbit is 9.8 au, its eccentricity is 0.79, and the inclination of its orbit is 145 degrees. Fewer than 20 minor planets with similar orbits are known; the group is called Damocloids, after the first such object discovered, 5333 Damocles. Because of the similarity of the orbits of these objects to those of Comet Halley and other comets thought to have come from the Oort Cloud, it has been widely speculated that the Damocloids may be extinct (or nearly extinct) Oort cloud comets.
In August 2003, 2002 CE10 developed a small tail (Takato et al, IAU Circular 8193) and its official designation became C/2002 CE10 (LINEAR). In October, 2003, 2002 CE10 was observed on two nights with the 0.9-m SMARTS telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory. We will present BVRI colors for the object and for selected Trojan and Hilda asteroids.
Support from the Provost of Illinois Wesleyan University and the Illinois Wesleyan Faculty Development Fund is gratefully acknowledged.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #4
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.