Аннотация:http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/004100/CBET004105.txt
Electronic Telegram No. 4105
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.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network
COMET C/2015 K1 (MASTER)
Vladimir M. Lipunov, Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Lomonosov Moscow
State University; David Buckley, South African Astronomical Observatory
(SAAO); and Denis Denisenko, Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow State
University, report the discovery of a comet with a coma diameter of about 14",
elongated toward the west, on 60-s unfiltered survey images taken with the
"Mobile Astronomical System of the Telescope-Robots" (MASTER) auto-detection
system (double 0.40-m f/2.5 reflector) at the SAAO (discovery observations
are tabulated below). The object was flagged by the auto-detection software
as one of 30-50 candidates that might be real moving objects from that night
(May 16/17 UT) for manual checking; after checking about 25 candidates, most
of which were noise on images, Denisenko found that this particular object
appeared real with a diffuse appearance, noting it to be a possible comet
with a coma diameter of about 14", he notified the Central Bureau, the Minor
Planet Center, and other observers. The three discovery images are posted
at URL http://master.sai.msu.ru/static/comets/M504DRx-MASTER-SAAO-anim.gif.
2015 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag.
May 17.14003 0 19 57.82 - 6 59 49.1 16.3
17.14443 0 19 58.05 - 6 59 46.7 16.5
17.14885 0 19 58.30 - 6 59 44.6 16.6
18.13711 0 20 51.76 - 6 50 35.9 16.6
18.13853 0 20 51.67 - 6 50 35.1 16.9
18.14029 0 20 51.91 - 6 50 32.8 16.3
18.14098 0 20 51.98 - 6 50 33.3 16.2
After the object was posted on the MPC's PCCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists
also have commented on the object's cometary appearance. A. Maury and J.-F.
Soulier find that images taken on May 20.4 UT with a 0.4-m f/8 Ritchey-Chretien
reflector at San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, show a 28" coma and a 45" diffuse
tail spanning p.a. 195-260 deg (strongest tail at p.a. 230 deg); Maury and T.
Noel obtained follow-up images on May 22.34-22.37 that show a 20" coma. C.
Jacques, E. Pimentel, and J. Barros obtained three stacked 60-s images on
May 22.3 with a 0.45-m f/2.9 reflector at the SONEAR Observatory, Oliveira,
Brazil, that show a condensed coma 30" in diameter.
The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2015-K70.
T = 2014 Oct. 15.5449 TT Peri. = 281.6804
Node = 5.3263 2000.0
q = 2.608532 AU Incl. = 29.2996
NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.
(C) Copyright 2015 CBAT
2015 May 23 (CBET 4105) Daniel W. E. Green