Electronic Telegram No. 3536
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 J6 (CATALINA)
     An apparently asteroidal object found by R. A. Kowalski on CCD images
taken with the Catalina Sky Survey's 0.68-m Schmidt telescope (discovery
observations tabulated below), and posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP
webpage, has been found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists
elsewhere.  H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan; remotely using a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph
of iTelescope.net near Mayhill, NM, USA; May 12.4 UT) found a coma of size 5"
x 8", elongated to the west, on ten stacked 60-s images; the V-band magnitude
was 18.8 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 7".6.  S. Foglia
reports that twenty-four stacked 60-s images taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore, IL,
USA; 0.61-m f/4 astrograph; May 15.3) shows the object to be diffuse with a
"possible" round coma of 8" in diameter.

     2013 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     May   9.37374   17 40 59.52   +39 57 34.4   19.3   Kowalski
           9.38056   17 40 58.44   +39 57 32.6   19.4     "
           9.42726   17 40 51.02   +39 57 06.3   19.3     "
           9.43234   17 40 50.12   +39 57 03.4   19.4     "
           9.43743   17 40 49.29   +39 57 00.5   19.4     "
           9.44246   17 40 48.54   +39 56 56.3   19.2     "

The available astrometry, the following parabolic orbital elements by
G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2013-K31.

     T = 2013 Apr. 13.1600 TT         Peri. = 126.8629
                                      Node  =  68.0918  2000.0
     q = 2.434771 AU                  Incl. =  85.4970


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 May 21                      (CBET 3536)              Daniel W. E. Green