Electronic Telegram No. 4037
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 Y1 (PANSTARRS)
     R. Weryk and R. Wainscoat, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii,
report the discovery of a comet in four w-band CCD exposures taken with the
1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on Dec. 16 (discovery observations
tabulated below); the object shows a broad but faint tail extending for
approximately 5" towards p.a. approximately 70 degrees in each image, and
it appears slightly larger than nearby stars of similar brightness.

     2014 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Dec. 16.46052    8 05 37.95   +38 57 01.7   19.9
          16.47348    8 05 37.60   +38 57 04.7   19.8
          16.48654    8 05 37.25   +38 57 07.8   20.0
          16.49966    8 05 36.91   +38 57 10.9   20.1

M. Micheli writes that Wainscoat and he obtained three follow-up 60-s CCD
exposures using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Dec. 17.4 UT (queue
observer L. Wells) in 0".7 seeing; the object has a diffuse appearance and a
slightly asymmetric coma with some extension to the east of the nuclear
condensation (the red magnitude was measured to be 19.6-19.8).  After the
the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP and PCCP webpages,
other CCD astrometrists have also commented on the object's cometary
appearance.  H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan, obtained twenty stacked 60-s exposures
with an iTelescope 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph (+ luminance filter) near Mayhill,
NM, USA, on Dec. 17.5 that show it to be strongly condensed with a coma 18"
in diameter and a hint of tail 10" long toward p.a. 260 degrees; the w-band
magnitude was 17.6 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 9".6.
K. Sarneczky, Konkoly Observatory, reports that nine stacked 120-s unfiltered
images taken the 0.60-m Schmidt telescope at Piszkesteto, Hungary, on Dec.
17.90 show a strongly condensed coma 12" in diameter with no tail; the
magnitude was 18.5 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 12".
Fifty co-added 40-s exposures obtained on Dec. 18.5 by V. L. Hoette (measured
by Hoette, A. W. Puckett, and T. R. Linder) with a 1.02-m f/8 Cassegrain
reflector at Yerkes Observatory show a round coma 5" wide with a faint,
diffuse tail spanning p.a. 305-270 deg.  L. Buzzi, Varese, Italy, reports that
stacked images obtained on Dec. 19.2 with a 0.60-m f/4 reflector show a coma
15" wide (red mag 18.5) and a tail at least 30" long in p.a. 275 deg.
     The available astrometry (including pre-discovery observations identified
by T. Spahr in MPC data from Pan-STARRS1 on Nov. 17.6 UT, with the comet then
reported at mag 20.2-20.5), the following parabolic orbital elements by G. V.
Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-Y20.

     T = 2016 Jan. 19.6208 TT         Peri. = 181.8926
                                      Node  =  19.9373  2000.0
     q = 2.248377 AU                  Incl. =  14.9292


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

                         (C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 December 19                 (CBET 4037)              Daniel W. E. Green