Electronic Telegram No. 3689
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 V1 (BOATTINI)
     A. Boattini reports his discovery of a comet on images taken with the
Catalina Sky Survey's 0.68-m Schmidt telescope (discovery observations
tabulated below), the object showing a 20" coma with a strong condensation
that is slightly elongated 25" in the east-west direction, with a very
distinctive tail more than 1' long in p.a. 230-235 deg (despite the presence
of a bright star along the comet's tail).  Follow-up observations by R. A.
Kowalski with the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector on Nov. 6.4 UT in poor seeing
show a bright, condensed coma of mag 15.4-15.5 with a broad tail > 1' long in
p.a. 220 deg.  After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP
webpage, other CCD astrometrists have commented on the object's cometary
appearance.  Four stacked 60-s exposures taken by V. Nevski with a 0.4-m
reflector at the ISON-Kislovodsk Observatory in Russia on Nov. 5.02 show a
10" coma and a 30" fan-shaped tail in p.a. 240 deg.  P. Bacci writes that ten
co-added 60-s exposures taken with an iTelescope 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph at
Siding Spring on Nov. 5.6 show the object to be diffuse and elongated 24" in
p.a. 205 deg.  R. Ligustri (Talmassons, Udine, Italy) notes that eight 120-s
exposures taken on Nov. 5.7 with an iTelescope 0.50-m f/4.5 reflector at
Siding Spring show a curved tail 72" long in p.a. 230 deg.  Three stacked
20-s R-band exposures taken remotely by E. Guido, N. Howes, and M. Nicolini
with an iTelescope 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph at Siding Spring on Nov. 5.8 show a
diffuse coma about 18" in diameter.  G. Masi reports that eight co-added 120-s
exposures taken by F. Nocentini and himself (and measured by U. Masi and
himself) with a 0.43-m f/6.8 reflector on Nov. 6.0 at Ceccano, Italy, show a
clear coma about 20" in size, elongated east-west.

     2013 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Nov.  4.38403    5 00 15.69   -15 09 58.0   15.6   Boattini
           4.39009    5 00 15.24   -15 09 56.2   15.6     "
           4.39614    5 00 14.84   -15 09 54.6   15.6     "
           4.40219    5 00 14.40   -15 09 53.0   15.7     "

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements
by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2013-V32.

     T = 2014 Apr.  8.4259 TT         Peri. =  50.8370
                                      Node  =  73.4601  2000.0
     q = 1.508094 AU                  Incl. =  62.3906


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

                         (C) Copyright 2013 CBAT
2013 November 6                  (CBET 3689)              Daniel W. E. Green