[IAUC] CBET 3630: 20130816 : COMET C/2013 P3 (PALOMAR)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3630
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/2013 P3 (PALOMAR)
     Adam Waszczak, California Institute of Technology, reports the discovery
of a comet in five 60-s r-band exposures taken with the 1.2-m f/2.4 Oschin
Schmidt telescope as part of the "Palomar Transient Factory" (PTF) survey on
Aug. 9 and Aug. 10 UT (discovery observations tabulated below); the object's
nuclear condensation appears point-like (in 2" seeing and 1".01/pixel
resolution) with a faint tail about 15" long in p.a. 330 deg; Waszczak's
report of it appearing cometary arrived after posting on the Minor Planet
Center's NEOCP webpage and after other CCD astrometrists also were reporting
on the object's cometary appearance.  T. Lister (Las Cumbres Observatory
Global Telescope Network) obtained images on Aug. 11.4 UT with the 1.0-m f/8
Ritchey-Chretien telescope at McDonald Observatory that show a coma about 6"
across of red mag 19.4-19.5 and a faint tail about 19" long extending to the
northwest; twelve stacked 300-s follow-up frames taken on Aug. 12.4 in 1".2
seeing show a coma about 5" across and a 20" tail.  Seventy-nine co-added
60-s exposures taken by P. Bacci with a 0.60-m f/4 reflector at San Marcello
Pistoiese, Italy, on Aug. 12.02-12.07 show a coma diameter of 7".8 (red mag
19.1-19.5) and a tail 34" long in p.a. 327 degrees.  Nine stacked 60-s
exposures taken by H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan) with a 0.32-m f/8 astrograph of the
RAS Observatory near Nerpio, Spain, on Aug. 12.1 show a strongly condensed
coma 6"-8" in diameter and a hint of tail 10" long toward p.a. 310 degrees;
the luminance-filtered magnitude as measured within a circular aperture of
radius 5".8 was 19.5.  Fifteen stacked 120-s exposures taken by C. Jacques,
E. Pimentel, and J. Barros with a 0.30-m f/3 reflector at Oliveira, Brazil,
on Aug. 12.1 show a condensed coma of diameter 18".  Images taken on Aug. 13.0
by D. Caporicci, G. Ierman, and E. Pettarin with a 0.61-m f/4 reflector at
Farra d'Isonzo, Italy, show a tail 25" long in p.a. 323 deg.  Luca Buzzi,
Varese, Italy, writes that a stack of images totalling 30 minutes of exposure
time in good seeing with a 0.60-m f/4.64 reflector reveals a coma 15" wide
of red mag 18.8 with a fan-shaped tail 23" long centered at p.a. 337 deg.
Sixty stacked 22-s exposures taken with a 0.61-m f/4 astrograph by R. Holmes
(Ashmore, IL, USA) on Aug. 14.4 (measured by T. Vorobjov, L. Buzzi, and S.
Foglia) show that the comet's image appears soft with respect to nearby stars.

     2013 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Aug.  9.43034   23 24 43.02   +29 10 31.4   18.9
           9.46832   23 24 42.25   +29 10 25.0   19.2
          10.36994   23 24 24.90   +29 07 50.2   19.2
          10.43030   23 24 23.70   +29 07 39.9   19.2
          10.46666   23 24 22.98   +29 07 33.6   19.2
          11.36885   23 24 05.33   +29 04 53.8   19.0

The available astrometry (including prediscovery PTF observations from Aug. 8),
the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an
ephemeris appear on MPEC 2013-Q02.

     T = 2011 June 25.9716 TT         Peri. = 101.0035
                                      Node  = 181.3367  2000.0
     q = 6.931142 AU                  Incl. =  85.5367


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

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 August 16                   (CBET 3630)              Daniel W. E. Green