Comet P/2014 M4 (Panstarrs)
Abstract
R. Wainscoat reports his discovery of an apparent comet that appears slightly soft in four w-band images taken on June 30 UT with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala (discovery observations tabulated below); the object appears softer than adjacent stars in all four images, though the field is rather crowded. M. Micheli writes that Wainscoat obtained three follow-up 60-s r-band exposures of the object with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on July 1.6 (queue observer D. Woodworth); analysis by Micheli shows evidence of a small coma. Additional CFHT observations by Wainscoat and Woodworth (measured by Micheli and Wainscoat) show the small coma (FHWM 1".0 in 0".8 seeing) with a 5"-long broad tail in p.a. about 280 deg. 2014 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. June 30.57204 0 55 07.29 + 9 35 08.9 21.2 30.57601 0 55 07.56 + 9 35 10.7 21.1 30.57999 0 55 07.82 + 9 35 12.5 21.2 30.58394 0 55 08.10 + 9 35 14.3 21.2 After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan) obtained eleven stacked 60-s exposures in bad seeing with an iTelescope 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph (+ luminance filter) at Siding Spring on July 1.8 that show a strongly condensed coma 8" in diameter with no tail; the w-band magnitude was 19.5 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 5".2. Twelve stacked 60-s exposures taken by Sato with a 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph at Siding Spring on July 2.8 show a strongly condensed coma 8" in diameter with the same brightness. The available astrometry, the following very preliminary elliptical orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2014-N45. T = 2015 Jan. 17.5477 TT Peri. = 154.0764 e = 0.323902 Node = 259.2921 2000.0 q = 2.302190 AU Incl. = 3.3333 a = 3.405111 AU n = 0.1568582 P = 6.28 years
- Publication:
-
Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams
- Pub Date:
- July 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014CBET.3920....1W