[IAUC] CBET 3783: 20140116 : COMET C/2014 A4 (SONEAR)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3783
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 A4 (SONEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object found on CCD images taken on Jan. 12.0 UT
by Cristovao Jacques, Eduardo Pimentel, and J. Barros with the 0.30-m f/3
reflector of the Southern Observatory for Near Earth Research (SONEAR) at
Oliveira, Brazil (discovery observations tabulated below) was found by CCD
astrometrists elsewhere (and then also by Jacques et al.) to show cometary
appearance after it was posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP/PCCP
webpages.

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Jan. 12.02856    5 51 22.29   -39 36 27.5   18.1   Jacques
          12.03319    5 51 22.02   -39 36 26.7   18.1     "
          12.03814    5 51 21.71   -39 36 24.7   18.1     "

E. Guido, Castellammare di Stabia, Italy, reports that nineteen stacked 90-s
unfiltered exposures taken by N. Howes, M. Nicolini, and himself remotely
with an iTelescope 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph at Siding Spring on Jan. 13.5 UT
show a small coma nearly 5" in diameter (red mag 17.8) with a hint of
elongation toward the northeast.  Twenty-five stacked 30-s R-band follow-up
exposures by Guido, Howes, and Nicolini on Jan. 14.6 with the 2.0-m "Faulkes
Telescope South" at Siding Spring show a diffuse coma nearly 8" in diameter,
slightly elongated toward the northeast.  Forty-five co-added 25-s images
taken by T. Linder, R. Holmes, and K. Baker with a 0.41-m f/11 reflector at
Cerro Tololo on Jan. 13.1 show an elongated 3" coma in p.a. 300 degrees and
4" in p.a. 120 degrees; a faint apparent tail of length 0".5 is also seen
in p.a. 90 degrees.  Jacques, together with Joao Ribeiro and Pimentel,
stacked sixty 60-s images with an iTelescope 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph at
Siding Spring on Jan. 14.51 that show a very condensed coma elongated 6".5
toward p.a. 63 deg.

     The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-B03.

     T = 2015 Sept.11.1105 TT         Peri. =   3.0231
                                      Node  =  30.4837  2000.0
     q = 3.829044 AU                  Incl. = 121.2619


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 3783)              Daniel W. E. Green