[Iaude] CBET 4451: 20171029 : COMET C/2017 U2 (FULS)

[quai at eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 4451
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Mailing address:  Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau at eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat at iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET C/2017 U2 (FULS)
     D. C. Fuls reports the discovery of a comet on CCD survey images taken
with the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector (discovery observations tabulated
below), the object described as having a coma diameter of approximately 17"
and a short tail in p.a. 10 deg.

     2017 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m1    Observer
     Oct. 22.07896   21 05 35.58   +14 38 24.0   21.2   Fuls
          22.08414   21 05 35.56   +14 38 21.0   21.9     "
          22.08930   21 05 35.48   +14 38 18.6   21.4     "
          22.09452   21 05 35.50   +14 38 15.0   21.4     "
          22.20843   21 05 35.18   +14 37 04.7   20.4     "
          22.21600   21 05 35.08   +14 36 59.1   20.5     "
          22.22352   21 05 35.07   +14 36 56.0            "
          22.23089   21 05 35.04   +14 36 50.5   20.8     "

Follow-up observations by Fuls on Oct. 23.2 UT show a 16" coma and a tail 14"
long in p.a. 20 deg (magnitude given as 20.5-21.1).  After the object was
posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, R. Weryk (Institute for
Astronomy, University of Hawaii) reports that he identified pre-discovery
images taken on Sept. 8.3 with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala;
however, the i-band images show no cometary appearance at mag 20.2-20.8.
CCD images taken on Oct. 26.2 by E. J. Christensen with the Catalina Sky
Survey 1.55-m reflector show a 5" coma visible with a tail extending about
10" toward the north; his additional observations on Oct. 27.1 show a diffuse
5" coma extended to the north.
     The available astrometry, the following nearly parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2017-U239.

                    Epoch = 2017 Sept. 4.0 TT
     T = 2017 Sept. 3.0111 TT         Peri. = 148.2029
     e = 0.998081                     Node  = 149.7322  2000.0
     q = 6.700326 AU                  Incl. =  95.4002


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2017 CBAT
2017 October 29                  (CBET 4451)              Daniel W. E. Green