Electronic Telegram No. 4303
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 P/2015 TP_200 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object found on CCD images taken on 2015 Oct.
10 and 11 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 (and
given the minor-planet designation 2015 TP_200 at the time; discovery
observations tabulated below) has been found to cometary appearance by CCD
astrometrists elsewhere.

     2015 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Oct. 10.28164    1 37 50.06   +14 01 10.3   19.7
          10.28733    1 37 49.88   +14 01 10.2   20.2
          10.30314    1 37 49.29   +14 01 08.3   19.7
          10.31570    1 37 48.85   +14 01 07.9   19.4
          10.32099    1 37 48.73   +14 01 07.3   20.4
          11.28286    1 37 16.38   +13 59 46.4   19.7
          11.28829    1 37 16.22   +13 59 46.3   19.7
          11.29290    1 37 16.07   +13 59 45.6   19.7
          11.29836    1 37 15.87   +13 59 45.3   19.7

H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan, reports that twelve stacked 60-s exposures taken on
2016 Jan. 3.1 UT with an iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph (+ luminance
filter) near Mayhill, NM, USA, show a strongly condensed coma of size 6" x 8",
elongated toward p.a. 250 degrees; there is the hint of a tail 20" long
towards p.a. 250 degrees, and the w-band magnitude was 19.1 as measured
within a circular aperture of radius 6".5.  Sato also reports that ten stacked
60-s exposures taken on Aug. 3.5 with an iTelescope 0.61-m f/6.5 astrograph (+
luminance filter) located at the Sierra Remote Observatory near Auberry, CA,
USA, show a strongly condensed, round coma 8" in diameter (and no tail) with
w-band magnitude 18.4 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 3".7;
eight stacked 60-s follow-up images taken on Aug. 6.5 yield mag 17.6 as
measured within a circular aperture of radius 5".0, along with the hint of a
tail 10" long toward p.a. 270 degrees.  P. Birtwhistle, Great Shefford,
Berkshire, England, writes that CCD images taken with a 0.40-m f/6 Schmidt-
Cassegrain telescope on 2016 Aug. 15.1 UT show a coma 10" in diameter and a
broad tail at least 20" long in p.a. 265 degrees; he measured red mag 18.2.
     The available astrometry (including pre-discovery observations with the
1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on 2015 Sept. 12 UT, when the
magnitude was given as 21.3-21.4), the following elliptical orbital elements
by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2016-P132.

                    Epoch = 2016 Oct. 19.0 TT
     T = 2016 Oct. 28.19182 TT        Peri. =  82.73310
     e = 0.5361222                    Node  =   6.97561 2000.0
     q = 3.3853288 AU                 Incl. =   8.77229
       a =  7.2978891 AU   n = 0.04999288   P =  19.7 years


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

                         (C) Copyright 2016 CBAT
2016 August 15                   (CBET 4303)              Daniel W. E. Green