Comet P/2014 L2 (Neowise)
Abstract
Rachel A. Stevenson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports the discovery of a comet by the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) team on images taken with the NEOWISE satellite (discovery observations tabulated below), noting that the object appeared extended. 2014 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. June 7.40861 23 01 26.80 - 4 58 58.6 7.54015 23 01 38.34 - 4 58 01.6 7.67182 23 01 49.77 - 4 57 06.2 7.80336 23 02 01.35 - 4 56 11.8 7.93503 23 02 12.79 - 4 55 15.0 8.06657 23 02 24.18 - 4 54 19.7 8.13240 23 02 29.95 - 4 53 51.6 8.19823 23 02 35.67 - 4 53 25.0 8.26394 23 02 41.33 - 4 52 56.3 8.39561 23 02 52.75 - 4 51 59.9 8.46131 23 02 58.56 - 4 51 33.8 8.52715 23 03 04.27 - 4 51 05.7 8.79035 23 03 27.00 - 4 49 15.0 8.92189 23 03 38.41 - 4 48 22.1 8.92202 23 03 38.45 - 4 48 20.7 9.05356 23 03 49.76 - 4 47 25.7 After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP and PCCP webpages, numerous other ground-based CCD astrometrists have also commented on the object's cometary appearance. G. Hug (Scranton, KS, U.S.A.; 0.56-m reflector) notes the object to be an obvious comet with a condensed coma of red mag 16.0 and a short, broad tail about 20" long in p.a. about 250 deg on his images taken on June 11.37 UT; follow-up images taken on June 13.4 in bright full-moonlight that washed out faint details still show a tail about 6"-8" wide that tapered to a point about 20" long in p.a. about 250 degrees. Thirtheen co-added unfiltered 60-s images taken by E. Bryssinck (Kruibeke, Belgium; 0.4-m f/3.8 astrograph) on June 12.08 reveal a coma of size 11" x 14" and a hint of a tail about 27" long towards p.a. 231 degrees; twenty co-added 120-s images taken on June 15.07 with a Bessel R filter show a coma of size 14" x 19" (magnitude 15.9 in an aperture of size 14"), elongated towards p.a. 289 degrees with a hint of a tail 21" long in p.a. 247 degrees. S. Foglia reports that forty stacked 10-s images taken by R. Holmes (Ashmore, IL, USA) with a 0.61-m f/4 astrograph on June 12.4 reveal an elongated coma of size 12"x 15" (elongated toward p.a. 290 deg) and a tail 1' long in p.a. 235 deg; seventy-five co-added 15-s follow-up images taken by Holmes with a 0.81-m f/4 astrograph on June 14.4 reveal an elongated coma about 15" in diameter with a tail 50".3 long in p.a. 242 deg. T. Lister writes that stacked 120-s images taken with the 1.0-m f/8 Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope at Sutherland, South Africa, on June 12.2 show a coma of diameter about 10" and a tail about 30" long in p.a. about 120 deg. Twelve stacked 60-s images taken by E. Guido, N. Howes, and M. Nicolini remotely with an iTelescope 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A., on June 15.4 show a tail nearly 15" long in p.a. 250 deg with a coma about 8" in diameter. H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan, writes that w-band luminance-filtered images obtained on June 15.4 with an iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph near Mayhill show a strongly condensed coma 25" in diameter (and mag 15.3 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 13".0) with a 1'.5 tail toward p.a. 255 deg.
- Publication:
-
Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams
- Pub Date:
- June 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014CBET.3901....1S