Electronic Telegram No. 4032
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/2014 W12 (GIBBS)
     A. R. Gibbs reports his discovery of a comet on CCD images taken with
the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector on Nov. 30.1 UT (discovery observations
tabulated below).  Four co-added 30-s exposures taken in fair seeing at
35 deg altitude on Nov. 30.07-30.09 show a slightly diffuse and circular coma
of diameter 4" with a short, broad tail 7" long in p.a. 60-90 deg; four
additional 60-s exposures taken around Nov. 30.13 show a 16" tail that is
initially broad but extending further in p.a. 80-100 deg, and a 6" coma.

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Nov. 30.06800   20 52 05.70   -11 52 08.7   18.3   Gibbs
          30.07408   20 52 06.71   -11 52 03.6   18.3     "
          30.08017   20 52 07.61   -11 51 59.0   18.3     "
          30.08627   20 52 08.51   -11 51 54.1   18.3     "
          30.12984   20 52 15.37   -11 51 20.7   18.2     "
          30.13069   20 52 15.52   -11 51 20.4   18.2     "
          30.13153   20 52 15.66   -11 51 19.2   18.2     "
          30.13238   20 52 15.77   -11 51 18.7   18.2     "

Follow-up images taken on Dec. 1.06 UT by R. E. Hill with the Mt. Lemmon 1.5-m
reflector show a bright nuclear condensation with a tight coma about 12-15"
across (mag 17.0-17.1), and a thin tail 15" long in p.a. 190 deg in four
co-added 30-s exposures.  After the object was posted on the Minor Planet
Center's PCCP webpage, H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan, obtained twelve stacked 60-s
exposures with an iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph (+ luminance filter) near
Mayhill, NM, USA, on Dec. 1.1 that show the comet to be strongly condensed
with a round coma 15" in diameter (w-band magnitude 17.1 as measured within a
circular aperture of radius 8".2) and a very faint fan-like tail 30" long
toward the southeastward.
     The available astrometry, the following preliminary elliptical orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-X33.

     T = 2014 Nov.  9.1194 TT         Peri. =  33.5100
     e = 0.533840                     Node  = 299.2017  2000.0
     q = 1.681843 AU                  Incl. =   8.5443
       a =  3.607868 AU    n = 0.1438229    P =   6.85 years


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 December 5                  (CBET 4032)              Daniel W. E. Green