[IAUC] CBET 3097: 20120430 : COMET P/2012 H1 (PANSTARRS)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3097
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/2012 H1 (PANSTARRS)
     Larry Denneau, Richard Wainscoat, and Henry Hsieh report the discovery
of a comet in four exposures taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS 1 telescope at
Haleakala (discovery observations tabulated below), with the object having a
soft appearance and a point-spread function slightly larger than those of
nearby stars.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Apr. 27.42935   14 21 18.44   - 4 25 44.4   21.6
          27.44432   14 21 17.86   - 4 25 41.9   21.6
          27.45931   14 21 17.31   - 4 25 39.2   21.6
          27.47428   14 21 16.74   - 4 25 36.5   21.7

Additional astrometry (including Mount Lemmon Survey observations obtained on
2011 Feb. 7 and 2012 Mar. 28, and Spacewatch-telescope observations on 2012
Mar. 29), the following orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris
appear on MPEC 2012-H94.

                    Epoch = 2011 Mar. 20.0 TT
     T = 2011 Mar. 19.2741 TT         Peri. =  25.8586
     e = 0.209054                     Node  = 126.3419  2000.0
     q = 3.479927 AU                  Incl. =   6.7450
       a =  4.399700 AU    n = 0.1067996    P =   9.23 years


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 April 30                    (CBET 3097)              Daniel W. E. Green