Electronic Telegram No. 3474
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 G5 (CATALINA)
     An apparently asteroidal object found on Catalina Sky Survey images
obtained by R. A. Kowalski with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope (discovery
observations tabulated below) has been found to show cometary appearance by
other CCD astrometrists after posting on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP
webpage.  Felix Hormuth writes that a stack of nine 60-s images taken on
Apr. 13.9 UT with the Calar Alto 1.23-m telescope shows a faint coma 10" in
diameter with a short, diffuse 30" tail towards p.a. 250 deg.  E. Cozzi
(Mozzate, Italy; 0.36-m f/11 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector; Apr. 13.9) finds
a small coma of size 8" elongated toward p.a. 235 deg in twenty-one stacked
1-min images.  Luca Buzzi (Varese, Italy; 0.38-m f/6.8 reflector; Apr.
13.95-13.97) reports that his stacked images taken in good seeing show a
round coma 7" in diameter with no tail.  H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan; twelve
stacked 60-s exposures taken remotely with a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph at the
iTelescope Observatory near Mayhill, NM, USA; Apr. 15.35-15.36) measures a
strongly condensed coma 12" in diameter with a straight tail 15" long
toward p.a. 225 degrees; the V-band magnitude was 18.6 as measured within a
circular aperture of radius 7".6.  J. G. Ries (McDonald Observatory, 2.1-m
reflector + i-band filter; Apr. 16.4) reports that the object appears
extended with a short tail approximately 4" long toward the southeast.

     2013 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Apr. 13.46027   14 44 40.05   +43 45 38.3   19.3   Kowalski
          13.46773   14 44 39.58   +43 45 48.7   19.5     "
          13.47521   14 44 39.30   +43 45 55.2   18.6     "
          13.48274   14 44 39.12   +43 46 06.9   19.0     "

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2013-H06.

     T = 2013 Sept. 1.1350 TT         Peri. = 165.8379
                                      Node  = 144.0163  2000.0
     q = 0.927635 AU                  Incl. =  40.4870


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 April 16                    (CBET 3474)              Daniel W. E. Green