Electronic Telegram No. 3450
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 F3 (McNAUGHT)
     R. H. McNaught reports his discovery of a comet on CCD images obtained
with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring (discovery
observations tabulated below), the object showing a circular coma of diameter
0'.3 with moderate condensation; an image taken two nights later in poor seeing
showed a similar appearance with total magnitude 16.8.  After posting on the
Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan) obtained images
remotely with a 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph located at the iTelescope Observatory
at Siding Spring on Mar. 31.77 UT that show a faint coma 15" in diameter with
a 40" tail toward p.a. 250 degree in six stacked 60-s exposure; the total
V-band magnitude, as measured within a circular aperture of radius 8".2, was
17.3.

     2013 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Mar. 29.75780   19 31 29.50   -25 45 08.0   17.5   McNaught
          29.76998   19 31 29.81   -25 44 52.1   16.8     "
          29.79443   19 31 30.26   -25 44 18.9   16.9     "

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2013-G02.

     T = 2013 May  21.4710 TT         Peri. =  17.0976
                                      Node  = 266.1855  2000.0
     q = 2.269212 AU                  Incl. =  85.0253


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 April 1                     (CBET 3450)              Daniel W. E. Green