[IAUC] CBET 3843: 20140403 : COMET C/2014 F2 (TENAGRA)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3843
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/2014 F2 (TENAGRA)
     An apparently asteroidal object that was found on three 150-s unfiltered
CCD exposures obtained by M. Schwartz and P. R. Holvorcem with Tenagra III
0.41-m f/3.75 astrograph near Nogales, AZ, U.S.A. (discovery observations
tabulated below) has been reported as showing cometary appearance by several
CCD astrometrists after the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's
NEOCP webpage.  C. W. Hergenrother, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, writes
that a 600-s co-added R-band image taken with the VATT 1.8-m reflector at
Mt. Graham on Apr. 1.5 UT shows a coma 28" in diameter of mag 19.3-19.4 and a
short tail 13" long in p.a. 220 degrees.  Holvorcem adds that a co-addition
of twenty-six 300-s unfiltered confirmation exposures taken with the 0.81-m
Tenagra II telescope between Apr. 2.34 and 2.45, under reasonably good seeing
(FWHM 3".5), showed a strongly condensed coma with diameter 7" and a 7"-long
tail toward p.a. 215 degrees.  H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan, notes that twelve
stacked 60-s exposures obtained on Apr. 2.4 with a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph (+
broadband luminance filter) shows a strongly condensed coma of diameter 8"
and magnitude 18.9 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 5".7; the
coma was slightly elongated southwards.

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Mar. 31.35083   17 11 01.85   +21 11 07.0   19.8
          31.36900   17 11 01.29   +21 11 25.1   19.6
          31.39163   17 11 00.56   +21 11 47.5   19.8

The available astrometry, the following parabolic orbital elements by G. V.
Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-G12.

     T = 2014 Dec. 21.8486 TT         Peri. =  84.1468
                                      Node  = 267.4108  2000.0
     q = 4.373088 AU                  Incl. = 118.9669


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 April 3                     (CBET 3843)              Daniel W. E. Green