Electronic Telegram No. 4043
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/2015 A1 (PANSTARRS)
[Editor's note:  this replaces the text on CBET 4042 (second observation date)]
     R. Weryk, E. Schunova, and R. Wainscoat report the discovery of a comet
in four i-band CCD exposures taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at
Haleakala on Jan. 8 (discovery observations tabulated below); the object shows
a tail extending for approximately 3" toward p.a. approximately 330 degrees;
the FWHM of the object in a stacked image is 1".7, vs. approximately 1".0
for the FWHM of adjacent stars in each image.  Wainscoat and Weryk add that
four additional w-band images obtained on Jan. 10.6 UT show a very faint,
low-surface-brightness tail that appears to extend towards p.a. approximately
320 degrees.

     2015 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Jan.  8.62460   12 06 32.58   -43 48 46.5   19.7
           8.63254   12 06 32.33   -43 49 08.8   19.9
           8.64050   12 06 32.06   -43 49 31.0   19.8
           8.64848   12 06 31.80   -43 49 53.2   19.7

The available astrometry, the following parabolic orbital elements by G. V.
Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2015-A42.

     T = 2015 Mar. 10.4133 TT         Peri. = 243.9653
                                      Node  = 341.5811  2000.0
     q = 2.019696 AU                  Incl. =  80.5547


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2015 CBAT
2015 January 16                  (CBET 4043)              Daniel W. E. Green