Electronic Telegram No. 3477
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 G8 (PANSTARRS)
     Bryce Bolin, Peter Veres, Richard Wainscoat, and Marco Micheli report the
discovery of an apparent comet in images taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1
telescope on Haleakala (discovery positions tabulated below), the object
appearing to be slightly extended compared to adjacent stars in a crowded star
field.  Micheli, Wainscoat, and Bolin obtained nine 60-s follow-up images of
the object on Apr. 16 UT using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna
Kea (queue observer Adam Draginda); a faint, diffuse coma appears to be
marginally visible in each exposure extending for approximately 5" from the
nuclear condensation.  After posting on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP
webpage, other CCD astrometrists also commented on the object's cometary
appearance.  Felix Hormuth writes that stacked images obtained on Apr. 16.1
with the Calar Alto 1.23-m telescope shows a condensed coma with diameter
about 8 ", slightly elongated towards p.a. about 300 deg.  J. G. Ries
(McDonald Observatory, 2.1-m reflector + i-band filter) found a "halo" around
the object's condensation on Apr. 16.5 and a small symmetric coma on Apr. 17.5.
H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan; five stacked 120-s exposures taken remotely with a
0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph at the iTelescope Observatory near Mayhill, NM, USA;
Apr. 17.4) finds a strongly condensed coma 8" in diameter with V-band mag 18.9
as measured within a circular aperture of radius 4".9.

     2013 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Apr. 14.60279   20 06 43.37   + 2 23 41.4   20.1
          14.60767   20 06 43.52   + 2 23 44.1   19.8
          14.61257   20 06 43.63   + 2 23 45.8   20.0
          14.61742   20 06 43.79   + 2 23 48.0   20.1

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephermeris appear on MPEC 2013-H22.

     T = 2014 Feb. 27.4219 TT         Peri. =  94.6132
                                      Node  = 241.3306  2000.0
     q = 4.741314 AU                  Incl. =  27.7374


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 April 19                    (CBET 3477)              Daniel W. E. Green