[IAUC] CBET 4014: 20141110 : COMET P/2014 U4 (PANSTARRS)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 4014
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 U4 (PANSTARRS)
     E. Schunova, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, together with
R. J. Wainscoat, L. Denneau, S. Chastel, M. Micheli, and B. Bolin, report the
discovery of a comet in four w-band CCD exposures taken with the 1.8-m
Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on Oct. 28 (discovery observations
tabulated below), the object showing a soft appearance in each image compared
to adjacent background stars.

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Oct. 28.53223    2 31 35.04   +20 58 27.4   20.7
          28.54427    2 31 34.38   +20 58 28.2   20.7
          28.55632    2 31 33.72   +20 58 28.8   20.6
          28.56837    2 31 33.07   +20 58 29.5   20.7

M. Micheli writes that three 60-s r-band follow-up CCD images taken by
Wainscoat and L. Wells with the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Oct.
30.5 UT show the object to have a slightly diffuse appearance with a possible
weak extension to the northwest in 0".6 seeing, though the comet was
unfortunately close to a relatively bright background star; Wainscoat adds
that the object looks slightly soft in the exposures, but the core of the
object is starlike.  Additional confirming unfiltered images were taken with
the University of Hawaii 2.2-m telescope on Oct. 30 by Schunova and H. Hsieh,
with the object appearing slightly extended in all exposures (a series of
four 120-s and four 200-s images tracked on the object); only a circular
symmetrical coma is seen, with no clear evidence of a tail.
     After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, H.
Sato, Tokyo, Japan, reported that his twelve stacked 60-s exposures taken with
an iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph (+ luminance filter) near Mayhill, NM,
U.S.A., on Oct. 30.28 UT showed the comet to be moderately condensed with a
round coma 10" in diameter with w-band magnitude 19.4 as measured within a
circular aperture of radius 6".5.
     The available astrometry (including numerous pre-discovery observations
found in Minor Planet Center data -- Pan-STARRS1 astrometry giving magnitude
21.4-21.6 on Sept. 2, found by G. V. Williams; Catalina Sky Survey astrometry
giving magnitude 20.0-20.2 on Sept. 30, found by T. Spahr; and Oct. 17 and 25
Spacewatch astrometry found by Spahr), the following elliptical orbital
elements by Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-V41.

                    Epoch = 2014 Aug. 11.0 TT
     T = 2014 Aug.  3.91697 TT        Peri. = 347.72507
     e = 0.4711365                    Node  =  12.04519 2000.0
     q = 1.8433897 AU                 Incl. =   6.45702
       a =  3.4855683 AU   n = 0.15145851   P =   6.51 years


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

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 November 10                 (CBET 4014)              Daniel W. E. Green