Electronic Telegram No. 3679
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 R3 (CATALINA-PANSTARRS)
     J. Licandro, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife; F.
Moreno, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA); A. Cabrera-Lavers and C.
Alvarez, Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and IAC; F. Pozuelos and A. Sota, IAA,
reports that broadband r' and g' Sloan filter CCD images of the main-belt
comet P/2013 R3 have been acquired with 10.4-m GTC (+ OSIRIS instrument) at
La Palma.  Inspection of the stacked CCD images obtained on Oct. 11.07 and
12.08 UT shows that the comet presented a central bright condensation of
magnitude r' = 17.5 +/- 0.1 and a tail longer than 4' in p.a. 242 deg.  The
central condensation was surrounded by two weaker condensations also with
star-like profiles (FWHM = 1".5), possibly fragments of the original nucleus.
The first component was at p.a. 40 deg with a relative brightness of about
23 percent with respect to the nucleus-centered region and is compatible with
the secondary nuclear component reported on CBET 3658.  The second component
was at p.a. 213 deg with a relative brightness of 5-10 percent with respect
to the central condensation.  These fragments, denoted A and B, are placed at
distances of 3".4 and 2".8 from the main condensation (3089 and 2485 km,
respectively).  In addition, a third, still-weaker condensation, component
C, was found at p.a. 242 deg and with a relative brightness of just about
0.5 percent with respect to the central condensation, at a distance of 36"
(32700 km) from it.  All those fragments are seen in both r' and g' filters.
The brightest fragment (A) was also detected at the reported position in CCD
images obtained at the 1.52-m telescope of the Observatorio de Sierra Nevada
in Granada on Oct. 12.1.  No apparent relative motion of the A, B , or C
fragments was detected in the course of these observations.  Images suggest
that the comet has experienced a splitting event.


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 October 27                  (CBET 3679)              Daniel W. E. Green