Electronic Telegram No. 4280
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Mailing address:  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/2016 KA (CATALINA)
     An apparently asteroidal object discovered on CCD images taken by R. G.
Matheny with the Catalina Sky Survey 0.68-m Schmidt telescope on May 16 UT
(discovery observations tabulated below), and given the minor-planet
designation 2016 KA (cf. MPEC 2016-K08), has been found to have cometary
appearance by cometary astrometrists elsewhere.

     2016 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     May  16.41190   18 54 15.08   +53 24 26.8   20.1   Matheny
          16.41592   18 54 14.78   +53 24 27.0   19.4     "
          16.41993   18 54 14.50   +53 24 31.6   20.1     "
          16.44669   18 54 12.21   +53 24 52.1   21.0     "
          16.45023   18 54 12.07   +53 24 55.0   19.6     "
          16.45377   18 54 11.67   +53 24 57.6   19.9     "
          16.45731   18 54 11.52   +53 25 00.3   20.0     "

P. Birtwhistle, Great Shefford, Berkshire, England, writes that CCD images
taken with a 0.40-m f/6 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on May 29.03-29.06 UT
appears to show cometary activity:  while the nuclear condensation is
essentially asteroidal (with FWHM similar to nearby stars), there is an
apparent tail 15" long and 6" wide in p.a. 173 deg.  Images taken by
Birtwhistle on May 23.9 in strong moonlight showed only a hint of a 6"
extension from the center of light, in p.a. 180 deg.  K. Sarneczky and K.
Vida, Konkoly Observatory, report that nine stacked 150-s unfiltered CCD
images taken with the 0.60-m Schmidt telescope at Piszkesteto, Hungary, on
May 29.0 of 2016 KA shows a narrow, slightly curved, 20"-long tail at p.a.
170 deg; the coma appeared completely stellar.
     The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams (from 30 observations spanning May 16-29 UT),
and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2016-K34.

     T = 2016 Feb.  8.5549 TT         Peri. =  63.9335
                                      Node  = 317.6408  2000.0
     q = 5.410662 AU                  Incl. = 104.6461


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2016 CBAT
2016 May 29                      (CBET 4280)              Daniel W. E. Green