Electronic Telegram No. 3259
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/2012 T6 (KOWALSKI)
     R. A. Kowalski reports his discovery of a comet on Catalina Sky Survey
images obtained with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope (discovery observations
tabulated below); he notes a condensed coma 25" in diameter and a blunt,
fan-shaped tail, 100" in length at p.a. approximately 310 deg.  After posting
on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have also
commented on the object's cometary appearance.  E. Guido, A. Tripp, N. Howes,
and G. Sostero write that seven R-band 30-s exposures, obtained remotely with
the 2.0-m f/10 "Faulkes Telescope South" at Siding Spring on Oct. 16.63 UT
under good seeing conditions, show a narrow tail nearly 13" long in p.a. 290
deg and a wide, fan-shaped tail about 20" long toward the north-northwest
with a sharp coma about 7" in diameter.  H. Sato (Tokyo) notes that images
taken remotely with a 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph at the RAS Observatory near
Mayhill, NM, U.S.A., on Oct. 17.5 show a strongly condensed coma of diameter
16" (of V-band mag 17.5 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 8".2)
and a 20" tail toward p.a. 330 degrees.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.   Observer
     Oct. 15.41769    5 06 54.10   -16 05 45.4   17.6   Kowalski
          15.42450    5 06 54.32   -16 05 56.7   17.1     "
          15.43132    5 06 54.64   -16 06 08.5   17.1     "
          15.43816    5 06 54.86   -16 06 18.0   17.0     "

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic orbital
elements by Gareth V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2012-U39.

     T = 2012 Aug. 25.0896 TT         Peri. = 196.4690
                                      Node  = 187.6624  2000.0
     q = 1.794971 AU                  Incl. =  34.2844


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 October 18                  (CBET 3259)              Daniel W. E. Green