Electronic Telegram No. 3676
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 P/2013 T2 (SCHWARTZ)
     Michael Schwartz (Nogales, AZ, U.S.A.) reports his discovery of a comet
in three 150-s unfiltered CCD exposures taken with the 0.41-m Tenagra III
astrograph (discovery observations tabulated below), the object appearing
diffuse; co-added images show a round coma about 8".5 in diameter with a hint
of a fan-shaped tail about 13" long toward p.a. 242 deg.  After the object
was posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists
have also commented on the object's cometary appearance.  E. Guido,
Castellammare di Stabia, Italy, writes that sixteen stacked 50-s R-band
exposures (obtained by Guido with N. Howes and M. Nicolini remotely using the
2.0-m "Faulkes Telescope North" on Oct. 16.4 UT) reveals a sharp central
condensation surrounded by a coma about 6" in diameter.  H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan;
using an iTelescope 0.32-m f/8 astrograph + luminance filter near Nerpio,
Spain; sixteen stacked 60-s exposures taken on Oct. 17.2) finds a strongly
condensed coma 16" in diameter (with mag 17.0 as measured within a circular
aperture of radius 8".8) and a wide, fan-like tail 20" long spanning p.a.
190-280 degrees.  Fifty stacked 15-s exposures taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore, IL,
USA) with a 0.81-m f/4 astrograph (measured by S. Foglia et al.) show a soft
round coma of diameter 10" and a wide tail 20" long in p.a. 250 deg.  W. H.
Ryan (Magdalena Ridge Observatory, 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector) notes a diffuse coma
and a tail in p.a. about 260 deg on R-band images taken on Oct. 19.4.

     2013 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Oct. 15.36468    4 14 10.50   +32 37 18.9   18.8
          15.38047    4 14 09.95   +32 37 26.3   18.7
          15.40685    4 14 09.14   +32 37 37.0   18.9
          16.21686    4 13 47.79   +32 43 22.6   19.3
          16.23196    4 13 47.33   +32 43 29.4   19.1
          16.24049    4 13 47.20   +32 43 33.1   18.9
          16.24949    4 13 46.78   +32 43 37.3   19.2
          16.25882    4 13 46.47   +32 43 40.4   18.5
          16.27336    4 13 46.06   +32 43 47.4   18.7
          16.40025    4 13 42.12   +32 44 42.7   19.1
          16.41429    4 13 41.63   +32 44 48.9   19.3
          16.43425    4 13 40.97   +32 44 56.8   19.1

The available astrometry (including prediscovery Catalina Sky Survey data
from Sept. 14.4 UT, when the magnitude was given as 17.8-18.6), the following
elliptical orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on
MPEC 2013-U18.

     T = 2013 June 20.6584 TT         Peri. = 342.5199
     e = 0.528552                     Node  =   2.6475  2000.0
     q = 1.600092 AU                  Incl. =   9.3562
       a =  3.393991 AU    n = 0.1576297    P =   6.25 years


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

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 October 22                  (CBET 3676)              Daniel W. E. Green