Electronic Telegram No. 3961
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 Q6 (PANSTARRS)
     E. Schunova, B. Bolin, L. Denneau, and R. Wainscoat report the discovery
of a comet in four w-band exposures from the Pan-STARRS1 telescope at
Haleakala that were taken on Aug. 31 UT (discovery observations tabulated
below); the object appears clearly extended compared to adjacent stars, and
it has a tail extending for approximately 8" in p.a. 135 degrees.  Wainscoat
reports that three follow-up 60-s r-band exposures were obtained with the
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Sept. 1 UT (queue observer D. Woodworth),
showing that the object is clearly extended in all three images; it is also
asymmetric in appearance and shows broad, diffuse emission between p.a.
approximately 135 and 200 degrees, extending for approximately 3".

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Aug. 31.34908   21 04 09.26   -34 19 50.1   19.7
          31.35831   21 04 08.78   -34 19 45.6   19.7
          31.36752   21 04 08.33   -34 19 41.1   19.7
          31.37672   21 04 07.87   -34 19 36.9   19.8

After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, H.
Sato, Tokyo, Japan, has reported that no tail was visible on seven stacked
60-s CCD exposures obtained with an iTelescope 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph (+
luminance filter) at Siding Spring on Sept. 2.53, but he noted a diffuse coma
of size 8" and w-band magnitude 19.2 as measured within a circular aperture
of radius 5".2.
     The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-R44.

     T = 2015 Mar.  3.8825 TT         Peri. =  14.3209
                                      Node  = 328.7868  2000.0
     q = 3.788023 AU                  Incl. =  45.3868


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 September 4                 (CBET 3961)              Daniel W. E. Green