Electronic Telegram No. 4034
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director: Daniel W. E. Green; 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.htmlPrepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network
COMET P/2014 X1 (ELENIN)
Leonid Elenin reports his discovery of a diffuse comet with a possible
15" tail in p.a. 230 degrees on three CCD images taken with a 0.4-m f/3
astrograph at the ISON-NM Observatory near Mayhill, NM, USA (discovery
observations tabulated below).
2014 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer
Dec. 12.16405 5 11 28.37 +41 44 47.0 18.0 Elenin
12.17551 5 11 27.59 +41 45 05.4 18.1 "
12.18633 5 11 26.87 +41 45 23.1 18.1 "
12.39243 5 11 12.73 +41 50 51.5 17.1 "
12.39392 5 11 12.62 +41 50 54.3 17.4 "
12.39541 5 11 12.53 +41 50 56.3 17.2 "
12.40284 5 11 11.99 +41 51 07.4 17.6 "
12.40431 5 11 11.95 +41 51 10.4 17.2 "
12.40579 5 11 11.85 +41 51 12.4 17.1 "
12.40727 5 11 11.75 +41 51 15.1 17.3 "
After posting on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD
astrometrists have found this object to show cometary appearance. H. Sato,
Tokyo, Japan, writes that eight stacked 60-s exposures taken with an
iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph (+ luminance filter) near Mayhill on Dec.
12.5 UT show a moderately condensed coma 15" in diameter with no tail; the
w-band magnitude was 17.0 as measured within a circular aperture of radius
8".2. K. Sarneczky, Konkoly Observatory, notes that six stacked 90-s
unfiltered images taken with the 0.60-m Schmidt telescope at Piszkesteto,
Hungary, on Dec. 13.05 show a faint, thin, 20"-long tail in p.a. about 210
deg with a nearly stellar coma of total magnitude 17.2 as measured within a
circular aperture of radius 10".
The available astrometry (including pre-discovery observations found by
G. V. Williams in the MPC archive from September and October), the following
elliptical orbital elements by Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC
2014-X66. The pre-discovery Pan-STARRS1 observations have measured
magnitudes
20.6-20.7 on Sept. 4 and 20.0-20.1 on Sept. 20 and 22; the pre-discovery
Mount
Lemmon observations obtained on Oct. 18.5 UT have magnitude 18.6-18.7.
Epoch = 2015 Jan. 18.0 TT
T = 2015 Jan. 7.74261 TT Peri. = 34.36827
e = 0.7100107 Node = 61.56967 2000.0
q = 1.8148888 AU Incl. = 25.97185
a = 6.2584683 AU n = 0.06295091 P = 15.66 years
NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.
(C) Copyright 2014 CBAT
2014 December 14 (CBET 4034) Daniel W. E. Green
