[IAUC] CBET 2811: 20110907 : COMET P/2011 R2 (PANSTARRS)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 2811
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/2011 R2 (PANSTARRS)
     Larry Denneau and Richard Wainscoat, Institute for Astronomy, University
of Hawaii, report the discovery of a comet on two i-band Pan-STARRS images
taken with the 1.8-m "Pan-STARRS 1" telescope at Haleakala (discovery
observation tabulated below), the object having a central condensation and
being distinctly extended with an extension to the west that appears to be a
faint tail.  Richard Wainscoat and Marco Micheli obtained r-band observations
with the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope on Sept. 6 UT that show the object
to be distinctly non-stellar, with a tail in p.a. approximately 257 degrees
that extends for 15" from the nuclear condensation.  After posting on the
Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, numerous other CCD astrometrists have
commented on the object's cometary nature.

     2011 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Sept. 4.50500   23 31 05.15   - 6 30 28.4   18.7

The available astrometry, the following preliminary elliptical orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2011-R24.

     T = 2011 Nov. 19.509 TT          Peri. = 230.124
     e = 0.40398                      Node  = 146.442   2000.0
     q = 2.01652 AU                   Incl. =   4.771
       a =  3.38328 AU     n = 0.158379     P =   6.22 years


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
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                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 September 7                 (CBET 2811)              Daniel W. E. Green