[IAUC] CBET 3901: 20140615 : COMET P/2014 L2 (NEOWISE)

Dom Jun 15 14:55:18 ART 2014

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3901
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 L2 (NEOWISE)
     Rachel A. Stevenson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports the discovery of
a comet by the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE)
team on images taken with the NEOWISE satellite (discovery observations
tabulated below), noting that the object appeared extended.

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.
     June  7.40861   23 01 26.80   - 4 58 58.6
           7.54015   23 01 38.34   - 4 58 01.6
           7.67182   23 01 49.77   - 4 57 06.2
           7.80336   23 02 01.35   - 4 56 11.8
           7.93503   23 02 12.79   - 4 55 15.0
           8.06657   23 02 24.18   - 4 54 19.7
           8.13240   23 02 29.95   - 4 53 51.6
           8.19823   23 02 35.67   - 4 53 25.0
           8.26394   23 02 41.33   - 4 52 56.3
           8.39561   23 02 52.75   - 4 51 59.9
           8.46131   23 02 58.56   - 4 51 33.8
           8.52715   23 03 04.27   - 4 51 05.7
           8.79035   23 03 27.00   - 4 49 15.0
           8.92189   23 03 38.41   - 4 48 22.1
           8.92202   23 03 38.45   - 4 48 20.7
           9.05356   23 03 49.76   - 4 47 25.7

After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP and PCCP
webpages, numerous other ground-based CCD astrometrists have also commented on
the object's cometary appearance.  G. Hug (Scranton, KS, U.S.A.; 0.56-m
reflector) notes the object to be an obvious comet with a condensed coma of
red mag 16.0 and a short, broad tail about 20" long in p.a. about 250 deg on
his images taken on June 11.37 UT; follow-up images taken on June 13.4 in
bright full-moonlight that washed out faint details still show a tail about
6"-8" wide that tapered to a point about 20" long in p.a. about 250 degrees.
Thirtheen co-added unfiltered 60-s images taken by E. Bryssinck (Kruibeke,
Belgium; 0.4-m f/3.8 astrograph) on June 12.08 reveal a coma of size 11" x 14"
and a hint of a tail about 27" long towards p.a. 231 degrees; twenty co-added
120-s images taken on June 15.07 with a Bessel R filter show a coma of size
14" x 19" (magnitude 15.9 in an aperture of size 14"), elongated towards p.a.
289 degrees with a hint of a tail 21" long in p.a. 247 degrees.  S. Foglia
reports that forty stacked 10-s images taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore, IL, USA)
with a 0.61-m f/4 astrograph on June 12.4 reveal an elongated coma of size
12"x 15" (elongated toward p.a. 290 deg) and a tail 1' long in p.a. 235 deg;
seventy-five co-added 15-s follow-up images taken by Holmes with a 0.81-m f/4
astrograph on June 14.4 reveal an elongated coma about 15" in diameter with a
tail 50".3 long in p.a. 242 deg.  T. Lister writes that stacked 120-s images
taken with the 1.0-m f/8 Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope at
Sutherland, South Africa, on June 12.2 show a coma of diameter about 10"
and a tail about 30" long in p.a. about 120 deg.  Twelve stacked 60-s images
taken by E. Guido, N. Howes, and M. Nicolini remotely with an iTelescope
0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A., on June 15.4 show a tail
nearly 15" long in p.a. 250 deg with a coma about 8" in diameter.  H. Sato,
Tokyo, Japan, writes that w-band luminance-filtered images obtained on June
15.4 with an iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph near Mayhill show a strongly
condensed coma 25" in diameter (and mag 15.3 as measured within a circular
aperture of radius 13".0) with a 1'.5 tail toward p.a. 255 deg.
     The available astrometry, the following preliminary elliptical orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-L61.

     T = 2014 Aug.  4.5936 TT         Peri. = 190.5994
     e = 0.428945                     Node  = 147.9282  2000.0
     q = 2.118208 AU                  Incl. =   5.2007
       a =  3.709287 AU    n = 0.1379649    P =   7.14 years


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

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 June 15                     (CBET 3901)              Daniel W. E. Green