[IAUC] CBET 4070: 20150228 : COMET C/2015 D3 (PANSTARRS)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 4070
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/2015 D3 (PANSTARRS)
     R. Weryk and R. Wainscoat, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii,
report the discovery of another apparent comet in four w-band exposures taken
with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on Feb. 20.5 UT (discovery
observations tabulated below); the object shows a broad tail extending for
approximately 40" towards position angle approximately 30 degrees.

     2015 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Feb. 19.49014   11 07 23.82   -15 31 12.9   20.4
          20.47078   11 06 51.38   -15 25 56.6   20.0
          20.48200   11 06 51.00   -15 25 52.9   19.9
          20.49326   11 06 50.62   -15 25 49.3   20.0
          20.50451   11 06 50.24   -15 25 45.7   20.0

After the comet was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage H. Sato,
Tokyo, Japan, reported that twelve stacked 60-s exposures taken with an
iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph (+ luminance filter) near Mayhill, NM, USA,
on Feb. 21.26 UT show a strongly condensed coma 10" in diameter (magnitude
18.2 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 6".5) with a narrow tail
20" long toward p.a. 145 degrees.
     The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2015-D112.

     T = 2016 June 10.1416 TT         Peri. =   5.6245
                                      Node  = 157.1038  2000.0
     q = 8.035665 AU                  Incl. = 128.2768


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2015 CBAT
2015 February 28                 (CBET 4070)              Daniel W. E. Green