[IAUC] CBET 3104: 20120515 : COMET C/2012 J1 (CATALINA)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3104
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau en eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat en iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET C/2012 J1 (CATALINA)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered on images taken by A. R. Gibbs
in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey (discovery observations tabulated
below) has been found to show cometary appearance by other CCD astrometrists
after it was posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage.  P.
Birtwhistle (Great Shefford, Berkshire, England; 0.40-m f/6 Schmidt-Cassegrain
reflector) reports that images taken in poor conditions on May 14.1 UT show
that the object appears essentially stellar (total redmag 16.1), but with a
suggestion of an extension in p.a. 275 deg to a distance of 15".  H. Sato
(Tokyo, Japan; images taken remotely with a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph located
at the RAS Observatory, Nerpio, Spain on May 14.1) measured a coma of diameter
10" with a faint tail 16" long toward p.a. 210 degrees.  Sixty stacked 60-s
exposures taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore, IL, USA, 0.61-m f/4 astrograph) on May
14.4 and measured by T. Vorobjov, S. Foglia, and L. Buzzi show a round coma
up to 8" in diameter.  R. H. McNaught (0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt reflector at
Siding Spring) writes that images taken in twilight on May 14.8 show the
object (of total mag 16.8) to be consistently larger than the images of
nearby stars of similar brightness (FWHM 5".5 vs. 4".6).

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     May  13.44265   22 49 33.32   +25 30 39.0   16.4   Gibbs
          13.44999   22 49 33.84   +25 30 43.6            "
          13.45688   22 49 34.24   +25 30 47.9            "
          13.46372   22 49 34.69   +25 30 52.8            "
          13.47598   22 49 35.45   +25 31 00.7   16.5     "
          13.47637   22 49 35.51   +25 31 01.1   16.4     "
          13.47675   22 49 35.49   +25 31 01.1   16.4     "
          13.47716   22 49 35.56   +25 31 01.7   16.6     "
          13.47778   22 49 35.58   +25 31 02.0   16.6     "
          13.47857   22 49 35.66   +25 31 02.5   16.3     "
          13.47898   22 49 35.70   +25 31 02.9   16.6     "
          13.47976   22 49 35.71   +25 31 03.0   16.4     "
          13.48006   22 49 35.75   +25 31 03.7   16.6     "
          13.48035   22 49 35.79   +25 31 03.5   16.4     "
          13.48064   22 49 35.82   +25 31 03.8   16.6     "
          13.48127   22 49 35.83   +25 31 04.4   16.6     "
          13.48157   22 49 35.81   +25 31 04.7   16.6     "
          13.48186   22 49 35.85   +25 31 04.3   16.6     "
          13.48216   22 49 35.87   +25 31 05.2   16.5     "

The available astrometry, the following very preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-J49.

     T = 2012 Sept.13.460 TT          Peri. = 125.562
                                      Node  = 235.576   2000.0
     q = 3.57994 AU                   Incl. =  34.145


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 May 15                      (CBET 3104)              Daniel W. E. Green