Electronic Telegram No. 3449
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/2013 F2 (CATALINA)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered by A. Boattini on images taken
with the Catalina Sky Survey's 0.68-m Schmidt telescope in bright moonlight
(discovery observations tabulated below), and posted on the Minor Planet
Center's NEOCP webpage, has been found to show cometary appearance by other
CCD astrometrists.  An independent discovery of this object as a comet was
reported belatedly after NEOCP posting by Richard Wainscoat, Peter Veres,
Marco Micheli, and Bryce Bolin on Pan-STARRS images obtained with the 1.8-m
Ritchey-Chretien telescope at Haleakala on Mar. 19 (when the r-band magnitude
was given as 19.8 and the description stated a "distinctly soft core" with
a possible faint tail approximately 10" long in p.a. approximately 340 deg);
Micheli subsequently identified prediscovery Pan-STARRS images from 2012
Dec. 28 and 2013 Jan. 26 (comet at mag 19.8-20.0 and diffuse on Dec. 28).
H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan; remotely using an iTelescope.net 0.43-m f/6.8
astrograph near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.) found a disk-like coma of diameter 12"
of total V-band mag 19.3 as measured within a circular aperture of radius
7".6 in twelve stacked 60-s exposures on Mar. 24.4 UT.  William Ryan
(Magdalena Ridge Observatory, 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector) notes a distinct coma
of mag 18.3-18.6 and a faint tail in p.a. about 90 deg on his R-band
exposures from Mar. 26.4.

     2013 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Mar. 24.17920    9 14 41.35   +72 06 27.2   18.1   Boattini
          24.18370    9 14 40.95   +72 06 25.8   18.6     "
          24.18821    9 14 40.84   +72 06 21.9   18.7     "
          24.19270    9 14 40.59   +72 06 18.9   19.2     "
          24.22000    9 14 39.12   +72 06 02.7   18.6     "
          24.22543    9 14 38.68   +72 05 59.5   18.4     "
          24.23090    9 14 38.29   +72 05 57.3   18.4     "
          24.23634    9 14 38.18   +72 05 52.8   18.7     "
          24.27773    9 14 35.72   +72 05 29.5   17.9     "
          24.28367    9 14 35.47   +72 05 25.3   18.4     "

The available astrometry, the following orbital elements by G. V. Williams,
and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2013-F58.

                    Epoch = 2013 Apr. 18.0 TT
     T = 2013 Apr. 19.08754 TT        Peri. = 123.00034
     e = 0.9994748                    Node  = 344.26726 2000.0
     q = 6.2178725 AU                 Incl. =  61.75196


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

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 March 29                    (CBET 3449)              Daniel W. E. Green