Electronic Telegram No. 4245
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Mailing address:  Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
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Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


COMET C/2016 A8 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object found on CCD images taken on Jan. 14
with the 3.5-m f/1 Space Surveillance Telescope on Atom Peak in the White
Sands Missile Range, NM, USA, in the course of the LINEAR survey (discovery
observations tabulated below) has been found to show marginal cometary
appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere after the object was posted on the
Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage.

     2016 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Jan. 14.13634    2 31 00.00   +44 33 53.9   20.1
          14.14180    2 30 59.40   +44 33 48.8   19.9
          14.14186    2 30 59.33   +44 33 49.0   20.2
          14.14833    2 30 58.56   +44 33 44.2   20.2
          14.15490    2 30 57.74   +44 33 38.4   20.1
          14.15504    2 30 57.70   +44 33 37.8   20.0

E. Bryssinck, Kruibeke, Belgium, reports that his images taken on Jan. 21.8 UT
with a 0.4-m f/3.8 astrograph (+ Bessel R filter) show a starlike object with
a diameter of 7"-8" and a very faint hint of a tail 11" long towards p.a. 349
degrees.  H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan, writes that nineteen stacked 60-s exposures
taken on Jan. 18.1 with an iTelescope 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph (+ luminance
filter) near Mayhill, NM, USA, show the object to be strongly condensed with a
round coma 6" in diameter and no tail, with w-band magnitude 19.0 as measured
within a circular aperture of radius 5".7.  K. Sarneczky, Konkoly Observatory,
notes that ten stacked 60-s exposures taken on Jan. 18.7 with the 0.60-m
Schmidt telescope at Piszkesteto Observatory showed no coma, but there is a
tail about 8"-10" long in p.a. 65 deg.  V-band images taken by W. H. Ryan and
E. V. Ryan with the Magdalena Ridge Observatory 2.4-m f/8.9 reflector on Jan.
29.1 show a sharp nuclear condensation with a faint tail at p.a. about 80 deg;
the magnitude was measured to be 19.6-19.8.
     The available astrometry (spanning Jan. 14-29), the following
preliminary elliptical orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris
appear on MPEC 2016-B84.

                    Epoch = 2016 Sept. 9.0 TT
     T = 2016 Aug. 30.5009 TT         Peri. = 129.8930
     e = 0.948139                     Node  = 111.3228  2000.0
     q = 1.894188 AU                  Incl. = 148.2542


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

                         (C) Copyright 2016 CBAT
2016 January 29                  (CBET 4245)              Daniel W. E. Green