[IAUC] CBET 4234: 20160107 : COMET C/2016 A3 (PANSTARRS)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 4234
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Mailing address:  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/2016 A3 (PANSTARRS)
     R. Weryk, E. Lilly, and R. Wainscoat report the discovery of an apparent
comet in four w-band exposures taken on Jan. 4.54-4.57 UT with the 1.8-m
Pan-STARRS1 telescope on Haleakala (discovery observations tabulated below),
with clear evidence of a short tail extending towards position angle 300 deg
for approximately 4".  Wainscoat adds that he obtained three confirming
w-band images using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (queue observer P.
Forshay) on Jan. 5.46 that were tracked at the predicted motion of the object;
the images show it to be clearly cometary with a slightly extended point-
spread function (FWHM 0".9 in 0".7 seeing) with an obvious tail extending for
approximately 5" to position angle approximately 300 degrees.

     2016 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Jan.  4.54076    8 07 25.18   +10 11 49.4   20.5
           4.55216    8 07 24.88   +10 11 50.1   20.6
           4.56356    8 07 24.58   +10 11 50.8   20.5
           4.57496    8 07 24.27   +10 11 51.4   20.6

     The available astrometry (spanning Jan. 4-6), the following preliminary
parabolic orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC
2016-A64.

     T = 2017 Apr.  2.1942 TT         Peri. =  16.1829
                                      Node  = 180.7301  2000.0
     q = 3.107381 AU                  Incl. =   9.0476


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2016 CBAT
2016 January 7                   (CBET 4234)              Daniel W. E. Green