[IAUC] CBET 4018: 20141121 : COMET P/2014 W1 (PANSTARRS)

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 4018
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 W1 (PANSTARRS)
     Eva Schunova, Richard Wainscoat, and Bryce Bolin report the discovery of
a comet in four w-band CCD exposures taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1
telescope at Haleakala on Nov. 17 (discovery observations tabulated below);
the object was non-stellar in appearance, with its core extended in the
east-west direction with a hint of a tail towards the southeast.

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Nov. 17.35105    4 42 27.14   +22 33 00.3   20.9
          17.36392    4 42 26.61   +22 32 56.7   20.9
          17.37680    4 42 26.08   +22 32 53.2   20.9
          17.38967    4 42 25.56   +22 32 49.6   21.0

M. Micheli and Wainscoat analyzed three 60-s r-band follow-up CCD images of
the comet taken by Wainscoat and A. Draginda on Nov. 18.5 UT with the 3.6-m
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea, finding a starlike core with a
halo of diffuse light surrounding the core (FWHM about 0".8 in 0".5 seeing)
that is not present in nearby stars and a broad extension at p.a. about 115
deg.  Four additional 45-s w-band exposures obtained with the Pan-STARRS1
telescope by Bolin and Wainscoat on Nov. 19.4 show a clearly non-stellar
symmetric appearance (mag 20.1-20.5).  After the object was posted on the
Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have commented on
the object's cometary appearance.  W. H. Ryan (Magdalena Ridge Observatory
2.4-m f/8.9 reflector; Nov. 18.5) writes that R-band images show the coma to
be clearly evident (mag 19.6-19.7) with a faint tail at p.a. about 270 deg.
H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan notes that sixteen stacked 60-s exposures taken with an
iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph at Siding Spring on Nov. 18.57 show the
object to be strongly condensed with a round coma 6" in diameter (mag 19.6
as measured within a circular aperture of radius 4".9).
     The available astrometry, the following preliminary elliptical orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-W54.

     T = 2014 Aug.  5.6304 TT         Peri. = 149.7655
     e = 0.415372                     Node  = 247.1085  2000.0
     q = 2.565344 AU                  Incl. =   8.1536
       a =  4.387996 AU    n = 0.1072271    P =   9.19 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 21                 (CBET 4018)              Daniel W. E. Green