[Iaude] CBET 5134: COMET C/2022 L1

[quai at eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 5134
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/2022 L1 (CATALINA)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered on June 4 with the 0.68-m
Schmidt reflector of the Catalina Sky Survey has been found to show cometary
appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere after the Minor Planet Center
posted it to the PCCP webpage on the basis of a comet-like orbit.  The
discovery observations are posted below, along with pre-discovery Catalina
images found and reported later from May 31.

     2022 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     May  31.43719   22 14 19.14   -16 42 44.9   19.6
          31.44284   22 14 18.47   -16 42 39.5
     June  4.42611   22 09 00.75   -15 50 54.9   19.3
           4.43115   22 09 00.18   -15 50 51.0   19.5
           4.43619   22 08 59.60   -15 50 46.4   20.1

Sixty stacked 60-s exposures taken by A. Aletti, F. Bellini, L. Buzzi, and G.
Galli (and measured by Aletti) with a 0.36-m f/8.4 reflector at Hakos,
Namibia, in good conditions on June 8.1 UT show a condensed 6" coma elongated
in p.a. 235 degrees, with a possible faint outer coma up to 15" wide.
E. Bryssinck, Kruibeke, Belgium, writes that twenty-five stacked luminance-
filtered 60-s exposures taken remotely by a large group of observers using a
"Telecope Live" 0.61-m f/6.5 reflector at Rio Hurtado, Chile, on June 9.3 UT
show a condensed coma of size 11", with magnitude 19.5 as measured in a
circular aperture of radius 5".5, with no clear tail visible.  Twelve stacked
60-s exposures taken remotely by H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan) using a 0.51-m f/6.8
astrograph at Mayhill, NM, USA, on June 11.4 show a strongly condensed coma
12" in diameter with no tail; the magnitude was 18.9 as measured within a
circular aperture of radius 6".5.
     The available astrometry appears on MPEC 2022-L97.  The following
parabolic orbital elements by S. Nakano (Central Bureau) are from 30
observations spanning May 31-June 11 (mean residual 0".7).

     T = 2022 Sept.28.10388 TT        Peri. =  59.73742
                                      Node  = 300.04029 2000.0
     q = 1.5934494 AU                 Incl. = 123.46242

The following ephemeris by the undersigned from the above orbital elements
uses photometric power-law parameters H = 15.0 and 2.5n = 8 for the
magnitudes.

Date    TT    R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta      r     Elong.  Phase  Mag.
2022 05 21    22 23.61   -18 41.9    2.124    2.333    88.8    25.7  19.6
2022 05 26    22 19.89   -17 47.2    1.982    2.289    94.1    26.2  19.4
2022 05 31    22 14.83   -16 48.1    1.840    2.245    99.6    26.4  19.1
2022 06 05    22 08.15   -15 43.0    1.700    2.201   105.5    26.4  18.9
2022 06 10    21 59.48   -14 29.9    1.564    2.159   111.9    25.9  18.6
2022 06 15    21 48.39   -13 06.1    1.432    2.117   118.7    24.9  18.4
2022 06 20    21 34.33   -11 28.3    1.307    2.075   126.2    23.3  18.1
2022 06 25    21 16.70   -09 32.4    1.191    2.035   134.2    21.0  17.8
2022 06 30    20 54.94   -07 14.5    1.090    1.996   142.7    18.0  17.6
2022 07 05    20 28.66   -04 32.5    1.006    1.958   150.9    14.6  17.3
2022 07 10    19 58.00   -01 28.2    0.944    1.921   156.8    12.1  17.1
2022 07 15    19 23.92   +01 49.3    0.910    1.885   156.4    12.5  17.0
2022 07 20    18 48.21   +05 04.2    0.904    1.851   149.3    16.3  16.9
2022 07 25    18 13.22   +07 58.8    0.926    1.819   139.0    21.5  16.9
2022 07 30    17 41.02   +10 21.8    0.973    1.788   128.1    26.6  17.0
2022 08 04    17 12.89   +12 10.5    1.041    1.759   117.7    30.7  17.0
2022 08 09    16 49.21   +13 29.1    1.123    1.732   108.2    33.8  17.2
2022 08 14    16 29.74   +14 24.3    1.215    1.707    99.6    35.8  17.3
2022 08 19    16 13.94   +15 02.5    1.313    1.684    91.9    36.9  17.4
2022 08 24    16 01.23   +15 28.8    1.415    1.663    84.8    37.3  17.5
2022 08 29    15 51.06   +15 47.3    1.516    1.645    78.5    37.0  17.6
2022 09 03    15 42.94   +16 00.7    1.617    1.630    72.6    36.2  17.7
2022 09 08    15 36.47   +16 11.2    1.714    1.617    67.2    35.1  17.8
2022 09 13    15 31.35   +16 20.1    1.808    1.607    62.1    33.6  17.9
2022 09 18    15 27.32   +16 28.4    1.896    1.599    57.5    32.0  18.0


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

                         (C) Copyright 2022 CBAT
2022 June 13                     (CBET 5134)              Daniel W. E. Green