[IAUC] CBET 4015: 20141114 : COMET P/2014 V1 (PANSTARRS)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 4015
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/2014 V1 (PANSTARRS)
     R. Wainscoat reports the discovery of a comet in three w-band CCD
exposures taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on Nov. 9
(discovery observations tabulated below), the object appearing slightly
extended and asymmetric, with an extension toward p.a. approximately 60
degrees in each image.  The object was faint and in a crowded star field.

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Nov.  9.21078   20 12 09.16   -11 11 50.2   20.1
           9.21605   20 12 09.60   -11 11 51.3   19.9
           9.22134   20 12 10.05   -11 11 52.4   20.0

On Nov. 13 UT, Wainscoat obtained six 60-s r-band follow-up exposures using
the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (queue observer P. Forshay), tracked at the
object's rate of motion; these exposures show the object to be extended with a
broad tail extending for approximately 6" in p.a. approximately 60 deg.  R. A.
Mastaler writes that his CCD exposures taken on Nov. 12.1 with the Spacewatch
1.8-m f/2.7 reflector at Kitt Peak show the comet in a dense star field at red
mag 18.7-18.8 and with a tail 6"-8" long in p.a. about 45-50 deg.
     The available astrometry, the following elliptical orbital elements by
G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-V52.

     T = 2014 Dec. 18.5104 TT         Peri. = 168.0037
     e = 0.376551                     Node  = 165.8715  2000.0
     q = 2.593316 AU                  Incl. =  23.0042
       a =  4.159628 AU    n = 0.1161776    P =   8.48 years


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 November 14                 (CBET 4015)              Daniel W. E. Green