[IAUC] CBET 4029: 20141127 : COMET C/2014 W9 (PANSTARRS)

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 4029
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 W9 (PANSTARRS)
     L. Denneau and R. Wainscoat report the discovery of another comet in
three w-band CCD exposures taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope
at Haleakala on Nov. 22 (discovery observations tabulated below), the object
showing a non-stellar appearance with what appears to be a broad, very-low-
surface-brightness coma.

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Nov. 22.63535   11 33 48.45   +12 43 52.3   20.5
          22.63930   11 33 49.01   +12 43 48.7   20.5
          22.64324   11 33 49.57   +12 43 45.0   20.2

M. Micheli and Wainscoat write that three follow-up 60-s CCD exposures taken
by queue observer D. Woodworth at the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
atop Mauna Kea on Nov. 23.6 UT show subtle hints of cometary appearance (coma
slightly soft with FWHM about 0".9 in 0".8 seeing) with a possible tail to the
northwest; the red magnitude was given as 19.4-20.2.  Wainscoat and Micheli
obtained three additional 180-s exposures at the CFHT (queue observer
Woodworth) on Nov. 25.6, noting a similar appearance (a nearly stellar coma),
with the apparent tail to the northwest being enhanced by the longer exposure
time.  After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage
H.Sato, Tokyo, Japan, obtained twelve stacked 60-s exposures with an
iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph (+ luminance filter) near Mayhill, NM,
USA, on Nov. 23.5 to find w-band magnitude 19.6, with a moderately condensed
but asymmetrical coma 8" in diameter.
     The available astrometry (including pre-discovery observations from Oct.
25.5 UT obtained at Mount Lemmon by E. J. Christensen), the following
preliminary parabolic orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris
appear on MPEC 2014-W118.

     T = 2015 Feb.  9.4306 TT         Peri. = 162.5888
                                      Node  =  23.0158  2000.0
     q = 1.652134 AU                  Incl. =  10.5658


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 November 27                 (CBET 4029)              Daniel W. E. Green