Electronic Telegram No. 3793
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/2014 A5 (PANSTARRS)
     Bryce Bolin, Larry Denneau, and Richard Wainscoat report the discovery of
a comet with a diffuse, non-stellar appearance and a faint tail about 1".5
long in p.a. about 320 degrees in four 45-s w-band exposures taken with the
Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on Jan. 4 (discovery observations tabulated
below):

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Jan.  4.42472    7 34 50.36   +37 57 53.6   21.4
           4.43788    7 34 49.85   +37 57 51.6   21.6
           4.45101    7 34 49.32   +37 57 49.6   21.5
           4.46414    7 34 48.83   +37 57 47.6   21.5

Follow-up 180-s r-band CCD images obtained by Marco Micheli and Richard
Wainscoat on Jan. 26.3 and 27.2 UT with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
(queue observer Adam Draginda) show a clear tail about 5" long in p.a. about
310 deg, and the object itself appears non-stellar (FHWM of the coma about
1".3 in 1".0 seeing, the magnitude given as 20.5-21.5).  After the object was
posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan;
remotely with an iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph located near Mayhill, NM,
U.S.A.) obtained CCD images on Jan. 6.3 and 7.34-7.36 UT that show a diffuse
8" coma that was moderately condensed (magnitude 19.4-20.3 as measured within
a circular aperture of radius 6".5 with a luminance, or broadband, filter).
     The available astrometry, the following preliminary elliptical orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-B54.

                    Epoch = 2014 Aug. 11.0 TT
     T = 2014 July 30.9602 TT         Peri. = 180.6101
     e = 0.944718                     Node  = 310.3698  2000.0
     q = 4.808048 AU                  Incl. =  31.6450


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 January 27                  (CBET 3793)              Daniel W. E. Green