Electronic Telegram No. 3048
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@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET C/2012 E3 (PANSTARRS)
     Peter Veres, Henry Hsieh, and Richard Wainscoat report the discovery of
a comet in four exposures taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS 1 telescope at
Haleakala (discovery observations tabulated below), with the object appearing
extended.  Follow-up observations by Marco Micheli and Wainscoat in very good
conditions with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (+ r filter) on Mar. 15.5
UT (queue observer Peter Forshay) clearly show an extended but very small coma
and a tail extending to the northeast; in a stacked image, a broad tail is
visible that extends to approximately 20" from the nuclear condensation at
position angle 50 degrees.  After posting on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP
webpage, W. H. Ryan and E. V. Ryan report that their R-band images taken on
Mar. 15.44-15.47 and 16.3 with the Magdalena Ridge Observatory 2.4-m f/8.9
reflector show a distinct coma and tail toward p.a. about 45 deg.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Mar. 14.59757   13 59 40.44   +21 49 27.6   20.2
          14.60932   13 59 39.52   +21 49 28.9   20.0

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements
by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-F10.

     T = 2011 May   1.431 TT          Peri. =  99.858
                                      Node  =   5.744   2000.0
     q = 3.68809 AU                   Incl. = 105.227


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 March 16                    (CBET 3048)              Daniel W. E. Green