[IAUC] CBET 3849: 20140407 : COMET C/2014 G1 (PANSTARRS)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3849
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/2014 G1 (PANSTARRS)
     Richard J. Wainscoat and Bryce Bolin report the discovery of a comet in
four w-band exposures from the Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala (discovery
observations tabulated below), the object being clearly extended and
distinctly non-stellar with a low-surface-brightness tail towards p.a.
approximately 110 degrees.  Follow-up 120-s r-band follow-up exposures taken
by Wainscoat (queue observer Adam Draginda) using the 3.6-m Canada-France-
Hawaii Telescope on Apr. 6.6 UT show a broad, low-surface-brightness tail
approximately 10" long extending towards p.a. approximately 115 degrees.

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Apr.  5.57480   16 57 05.70   - 6 32 00.3   20.5
           5.58707   16 57 05.06   - 6 31 57.0   20.3
           5.59936   16 57 04.43   - 6 31 53.8   20.6
           5.61170   16 57 03.79   - 6 31 50.5   20.5

After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP and PCCP
webpages, other CCD astrometrists have also commented on the object's cometary
appearance.  Four co-added 180-s Lum-filtered exposures taken by E. Bryssinck
(Kruibeke, Belgium; remotely with an iTelescope 0.61-m f/6.5 reflector
telescope located near Auberry, CA, USA; Apr. 7.48 UT) writes that four
co-added 180-s Luminance-filtered exposures show a diffuse object with coma of
diameter 13".  H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan (remotely with an iTelescope 0.43-m f/6.8
astrograph near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; Apr. 7.5) finds a strongly condensed coma
of size 6" x 8", slightly elongated toward the east, on ten stacked 60-s
exposures; the luminance-filtered magnitude as measured within a circular
aperture of radius 5".7 was 18.6.

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-G42.

     T = 2014 June 16.7328 TT         Peri. = 103.2158
                                      Node  = 340.2335  2000.0
     q = 5.508084 AU                  Incl. = 165.6109


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 April 7                     (CBET 3849)              Daniel W. E. Green