[IAUC] CBET 3782: 20140116 : COMET P/2014 A3 (PANSTARRS)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3782
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/2014 A3 (PANSTARRS)
     [Editor's note:  this text replaces that on CBET 3781 (correct dates).]
     Bryce Bolin, Peter Veres, Richard Wainscoat and Larry Denneau report the
discovery of a comet with a diffuse, non-stellar appearance in three 45-s
w-band exposures taken with the Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on Jan. 9
(discovery observations tabulated below):

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Jan.  9.50731    8 37 02.55   + 0 27 04.2   21.1
           9.52164    8 37 02.03   + 0 27 03.7   21.2
           9.53601    8 37 01.52   + 0 27 03.3   21.0

After posting on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD
astrometrists have also commented on the object's cometary appearance.  J. V.
Scotti writes that exposures taken with the Spacewatch 1.8-m telescope at
Kitt Peak on Jan. 10.45-10.48 show a coma of diameter 8" and a tail 0'.14 long
in p.a. 300 degrees; twelve co-added follow-up exposures in heavy moonlight
on Jan. 11.5 show a diffuse coma of diameter 13" with a 0'.65 tail in p.a.
274 degrees.  H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan; remotely with an iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8
astrograph + luminance filter near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; six stacked 120-s
exposures; Jan. 10.5) reports a moderately condensed diffuse coma of diameter
12" and no obvious tail.
     The available astrometry, the following preliminary elliptical orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-B02.

     T = 2013 Aug.  8.2585 TT         Peri. = 232.9118
     e = 0.072835                     Node  = 233.9988  2000.0
     q = 4.001221 AU                  Incl. =  14.1944
       a =  4.315542 AU    n = 0.1099388    P =   8.96 years



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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 January 16                  (CBET 3782)              Daniel W. E. Green