[IAUC] CBET 3255: 20121016 : COMET P/2012 T3 (PANSTARRS)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3255
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 P/2012 T3 (PANSTARRS)
     Richard Wainscoat, Larry Denneau, and Henry Hsieh report the discovery
of a comet in four w-band exposures taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS 1
telescope at Haleakala (discovery observations tabulated below); the object is
faint but has a diffuse, non-stellar appearance.  Hsieh writes that follow-up
images obtained by Heather Kaluna with the University of Hawaii 2.2-m
telescope at Mauna Kea on Oct. 12 UT, and by Scott Sheppard and Chad
Trujillo with the 6.5-m Magellan Baade telescope at Las Campanas on Oct. 15,
confirm that the object is clearly cometary; measurements by Hsieh show that
the object's point-spread function has a FWHM of 2".4 compared to a typical
FWHM of 2".2 for nearby field stars in the 2.2-m telescope data, while the
object's PSF has a FWHM of 1".6 compared to a typical FWHM of 1".2 for
nearby field stars in the Magellan data.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Oct. 10.35159   23 54 35.68   -15 02 31.3   21.3
          10.36553   23 54 35.32   -15 02 32.0   21.4
          10.37946   23 54 34.94   -15 02 32.8   21.5
          10.39339   23 54 34.61   -15 02 33.3   21.4

The available astrometry, the following preliminary elliptical orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-U4.

     T = 2012 Apr. 30.3931 TT         Peri. = 198.4921
     e = 0.596998                     Node  = 113.8604  2000.0
     q = 2.407888 AU                  Incl. =   9.4895
       a =  5.974880 AU    n = 0.0674855    P =  14.6 years


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 October 16                  (CBET 3255)              Daniel W. E. Green