[Iaude] CBET 5333: COMET C/2024 A1
quai at eps.harvard.edu
quai at eps.harvard.edu
Sun Jan 21 17:53:04 EST 2024
Electronic Telegram No. 5333
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/2024 A1 (ATLAS)
A new comet has been discovered on CCD images obtained with a 0.5-m f/2
Schmidt reflector at Rio Hurtado, Chile, in the course of the "Asteroid
Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System" (ATLAS) search program. A. Fitzsimmons
reported that four 30-s images taken on Jan. 3.2 UT show the object as being
"slightly soft" with a size of 6".3 (full-width-at-half-maximum) in 4".3
seeing. The discovery observations are tabulated below:
2024 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag.
Jan. 3.20752 7 05 23.35 -65 42 33.4 18.8
3.21123 7 05 22.85 -65 42 33.3 18.7
3.24216 7 05 20.04 -65 42 26.2 18.8
3.24854 7 05 19.31 -65 42 25.2 18.8
After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other
CCD astrometrists have commented on the object's appearance, as follows.
Eight stacked 60-s exposures taken remotely by Hidetaka Sato (Bunkyo-ku,
Tokyo, Japan) using a 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph located at Rio Hurtado on Jan.
4.30 UT show a strongly condensed coma 8" in diameter with a hint of tail 5"
long toward p.a. 300 degrees; the magnitude was 18.5 as measured within a
circular aperture of radius 4".3. Exposures taken remotely by A. Hale
(Cloudcroft, NM, USA) on Jan. 5.1 using a 0.35-m reflector located at
Sutherland, South Africa, show the object to be slightly non-stellar, with
a small hint of diffuseness, when compared to stars of similar brightness,
and no tail. Twenty-one 60-s exposurse taken in 3".4 seeing by A. Aletti,
F. Bellini, L. Buzzi, and G. Galli on Jan. 10.9 remotely using a 0.36-m f/8.4
Ritchey-Chretien reflector located at Hakos, Namibia, show a slightly
condensed coma of size 4".8 (FWHM) that extends toward the north.
The available astrometry appears on MPEC 2024-B78. The following
parabolic orbital elements by S. Nakano (Central Bureau) are from 93
observations spanning 2024 Jan. 3-19 (mean residual 0".4).
T = 2025 June 13.86526 TT Peri. = 353.31775
Node = 112.15936 2000.0
q = 3.8754626 AU Incl. = 94.44347
The following ephemeris by the undersigned from the above orbital elements
uses photometric power-law parameters H = 8.0 and 2.5n = 8 for the magnitudes.
Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase Mag.
2023 12 02 07 50.27 -65 43.4 6.076 6.063 84.6 9.3 18.2
2023 12 07 07 44.63 -65 56.4 6.027 6.033 85.7 9.4 18.1
2023 12 12 07 38.36 -66 05.3 5.978 6.004 86.8 9.4 18.1
2023 12 17 07 31.54 -66 09.6 5.929 5.974 87.9 9.5 18.1
2023 12 22 07 24.26 -66 08.8 5.881 5.945 88.9 9.5 18.0
2023 12 27 07 16.66 -66 02.3 5.834 5.915 90.0 9.6 18.0
2024 01 01 07 08.86 -65 50.0 5.787 5.886 90.9 9.6 18.0
2024 01 06 07 01.01 -65 31.4 5.742 5.857 91.9 9.7 17.9
2024 01 11 06 53.26 -65 06.4 5.698 5.828 92.7 9.7 17.9
2024 01 16 06 45.77 -64 35.0 5.655 5.798 93.5 9.7 17.9
2024 01 21 06 38.65 -63 57.2 5.615 5.769 94.1 9.8 17.8
2024 01 26 06 32.03 -63 13.3 5.577 5.740 94.6 9.8 17.8
2024 01 31 06 25.99 -62 23.7 5.541 5.712 95.0 9.9 17.8
2024 02 05 06 20.59 -61 28.6 5.507 5.683 95.3 9.9 17.7
2024 02 10 06 15.86 -60 28.6 5.476 5.654 95.3 10.0 17.7
2024 02 15 06 11.84 -59 24.1 5.448 5.625 95.3 10.1 17.7
2024 02 20 06 08.52 -58 15.8 5.423 5.597 95.0 10.1 17.7
2024 02 25 06 05.88 -57 04.1 5.400 5.568 94.6 10.2 17.6
2024 03 01 06 03.90 -55 49.7 5.381 5.540 94.1 10.3 17.6
2024 03 06 06 02.55 -54 33.0 5.364 5.512 93.3 10.4 17.6
2024 03 11 06 01.79 -53 14.7 5.351 5.483 92.4 10.4 17.6
2024 03 16 06 01.59 -51 55.2 5.340 5.455 91.4 10.5 17.5
2024 03 21 06 01.90 -50 35.0 5.333 5.427 90.2 10.6 17.5
2024 03 26 06 02.68 -49 14.7 5.327 5.400 88.8 10.6 17.5
2024 03 31 06 03.89 -47 54.6 5.325 5.372 87.3 10.7 17.5
2024 04 05 06 05.49 -46 35.2 5.325 5.344 85.7 10.8 17.5
2024 04 10 06 07.46 -45 16.7 5.327 5.317 84.0 10.8 17.4
2024 04 15 06 09.75 -43 59.6 5.331 5.289 82.2 10.8 17.4
2024 04 20 06 12.33 -42 44.3 5.336 5.262 80.3 10.8 17.4
2024 04 25 06 15.17 -41 30.8 5.343 5.235 78.4 10.9 17.4
2024 04 30 06 18.25 -40 19.5 5.352 5.208 76.4 10.8 17.4
2024 05 05 06 21.54 -39 10.6 5.361 5.181 74.4 10.8 17.4
2024 05 10 06 25.02 -38 04.2 5.370 5.154 72.3 10.8 17.3
2024 05 15 06 28.66 -37 00.5 5.380 5.127 70.2 10.7 17.3
2024 05 20 06 32.44 -35 59.7 5.390 5.101 68.2 10.6 17.3
2024 05 25 06 36.34 -35 01.8 5.399 5.075 66.1 10.5 17.3
2024 05 30 06 40.35 -34 06.8 5.408 5.049 64.1 10.4 17.3
2024 06 04 06 44.45 -33 14.9 5.416 5.023 62.1 10.3 17.3
2024 06 09 06 48.62 -32 26.0 5.422 4.997 60.2 10.2 17.3
2024 06 14 06 52.84 -31 40.3 5.427 4.971 58.4 10.0 17.2
2024 06 19 06 57.10 -30 57.6 5.431 4.945 56.7 9.9 17.2
2024 06 24 07 01.39 -30 18.0 5.432 4.920 55.0 9.7 17.2
2024 06 29 07 05.70 -29 41.4 5.431 4.895 53.5 9.6 17.2
2024 07 04 07 10.00 -29 07.9 5.427 4.870 52.2 9.5 17.2
2024 07 09 07 14.29 -28 37.3 5.420 4.845 51.0 9.4 17.2
2024 07 14 07 18.56 -28 09.6 5.411 4.820 50.0 9.3 17.1
2024 07 19 07 22.78 -27 44.8 5.398 4.796 49.2 9.2 17.1
2024 07 24 07 26.95 -27 22.7 5.382 4.772 48.6 9.2 17.1
2024 07 29 07 31.06 -27 03.3 5.363 4.748 48.3 9.2 17.1
NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.
(C) Copyright 2024 CBAT
2024 January 21 (CBET 5333) Daniel W. E. Green
More information about the Iaude
mailing list