Electronic Telegram No. 3454
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 G1 (KOWALSKI)
     R. A. Kowalski reports his discovery of a comet on CCD images obtained
by himself with the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector (discovery observations
tabulated below), the object showing a bright, condensed core approximately
6" in diameter with a straight tail that extends approximately 15" in p.a.
285 deg in four co-added 30-s exposures.  After posting on the Minor Planet
Center's NEOCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have also commented on the
object's cometary appearance.  H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan; remotely using an
iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph at Siding Spring, NSW; Apr. 2.7 UT) notes
an elongated coma of size 8" x 13" on twelve 60-s stacked images, along with
a 20" tail toward p.a. 280 degrees; the total V-band magnitude as measured
within a circular aperture of radius 6".5 was 19.3.  R. S. McMillan writes
that images obtained on Apr. 3.44 and 3.46 with the Spacewatch 0.9-m f/3
reflector (+ CCD mosaic) show a 10" tail in p.a. 270 deg.  R. Ligustri
(Udine, Italy) finds a 13" coma elongated east-west in two 300-s images
taken remotely with an iTelescope 0.50-m f/4.5 reflector located near
Mayhill, NM, U.S.A., on Apr. 4.4.  E. Guido (Castellammare di Stabia, Italy)
writes that twelve stacked 120-s R-band exposures taken remotely by N. Howes
and himself with the 2.0-m f/10 "Faulkes Telescope North" at Haleakala on
Apr. 4.5 show a tail nearly 12" long in p.a. 285 with a coma about 5" in
diameter.

     2013 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Apr.  2.42509   15 40 39.03   -18 58 11.1   18.5   Kowalski
           2.43409   15 40 39.00   -18 58 10.1   18.4     "
           2.44313   15 40 38.92   -18 58 09.2   18.1     "
           2.45211   15 40 38.85   -18 58 08.4   18.6     "

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2013-G13.

     T = 2014 Jan. 19.0190 TT         Peri. =  86.8503
                                      Node  = 222.3815  2000.0
     q = 2.183863 AU                  Incl. =   6.2211


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 April 4                     (CBET 3454)              Daniel W. E. Green