[Iaude] CBET 4591: 20190107 : COMET P/2019 A1 (PANSTARRS)

[quai at eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 4591
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 P/2019 A1 (PANSTARRS)
     An object found on images obtained with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope
at Haleakala on Jan. 3 UT (discovery observations tabulated below) has been
found to show cometary appearance in follow-up images obtained with the 3.6-m
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Jan. 5.6 by R. Wainscoat, R. Weryk, C.
Wipper, and A. Petric.

     2019 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Jan.  3.62687   10 17 27.93   +10 03 36.0   20.5
           3.63615   10 17 27.85   +10 03 31.9   20.4
           3.64534   10 17 27.77   +10 03 27.9   20.4
           3.65456   10 17 27.69   +10 03 23.9   20.6

Weryk notes that three 60-s gri-band exposures taken with the CFHT show a tail
extending for at least 5" towards the northwest; the head has a full-width-at-
half-maximum of 1".25 (vs. 1".04 for nearby stars).
     The available astrometry (including pre-discovery observations from Mt.
Lemmon on 2018 Dec. 4.5 UT, when the magnitude was given as 21.2-21.8, and
from Pan-STARRS1 on Dec. 20.54-20.56, when the magnitude was measured to be
20.6-20.9), the following elliptical orbital elements by G. V. Williams (from
23 observations spanning 2018 Dec. 4-2019 Jan. 7), and an ephemeris are
available on MPEC 2019-A101.

                    Epoch = 2018 Oct.  9.0 TT
     T = 2018 Oct. 11.0643 TT         Peri. = 150.8555
     e = 0.568860                     Node  = 312.2997  2000.0
     q = 2.211722 AU                  Incl. =  13.7435
       a =  5.129941 AU    n = 0.0848273    P =  11.62 years


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2019 CBAT
2019 January 7                   (CBET 4591)              Daniel W. E. Green