[IAUC] CBET 3712: 20131115 : COMET C/2013 V4 (CATALINA)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3712
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 V4 (CATALINA)
     An apparently asteroidal comet discovered on Catalina Sky Survey images
taken by R. E. Hill (discovery observations tabulated below), and posted on
the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP and PCCP webpages, has been found to show
cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere.

     2013 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Nov.  9.28300    3 22 35.12   - 8 10 57.2   17.7   Hill
           9.28806    3 22 34.93   - 8 10 57.6   17.5     "
           9.29310    3 22 34.75   - 8 10 55.8   17.7     "
           9.29815    3 22 34.60   - 8 10 56.2   17.7     "
           9.30630    3 22 34.32   - 8 10 55.7   17.5     "
           9.31150    3 22 34.14   - 8 10 55.4   17.7     "
           9.31669    3 22 33.92   - 8 10 54.8   17.8     "
           9.32189    3 22 33.74   - 8 10 54.2   17.6     "

Peter Veres, Bryce Bolin, and Richard Wainscoat write that pre-discovery
i-band exposures taken on Oct. 23.5 UT with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope on
Haleakala show that the object is an extended source, appearing asymmetric and
extended to the southeast.  L. Buzzi (Varese, Italy, 0.60-m f/4.6 reflector)
notes that stacked images obtained on Nov. 10.03-10.04 show a condensed coma
12" wide with no apparent tail; he measured red mag 17.6 within a 7" aperture.
H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan) writes that images taken remotely with an iTelescope
0.32-m f/8 astrograph near Nerpio, Spain, on Nov. 11.0 show a strongly
condensed coma 12" in diameter with no obvious tail in eight stacked 60-s
exposures.  Twenty stacked 60-s images taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore, IL, USA;
0.81-m f/4 astrograph; measured by S. Foglia with a team of six others) show
a round, diffuse coma of diameter 15"; Foglia adds that sixty stacked 60-s
images taken by Holmes on Nov. 14.2 show a diffuse coma of size 12" x 20",
elongated in p.a. 300 deg.  Eight stacked 180-s images taken by R. Ligustri
(Talmassons, Udine, Italy) remotely with a 0.43-m f/4.5 reflector near Mayhill,
NM, U.S.A. on Nov. 11.3 show a condensed coma of size about 18".  R-band
exposures taken by W. H. Ryan and E. V. Ryan with the Magdalena Ridge
Observatory 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector on Nov. 12.23-12.25 show a distinct bright
coma of mag 17.2-17.5.
     The available astrometry (including pre-discovery Catalina observations
from Oct. 31), the following parabolic orbital elements by G. V. Williams,
and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2013-V94.

     T = 2015 Oct.  8.9908 TT         Peri. =  40.2196
                                      Node  =  55.5111  2000.0
     q = 5.212511 AU                  Incl. =  68.0680


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

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 November 15                 (CBET 3712)              Daniel W. E. Green