Electronic Telegram No. 3268
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 P/2012 U2 (PANSTARRS)
     Richard Wainscoat, Henry Hsieh, and Bryce Bolin, University of Hawaii,
report their discovery of a comet on four w-band 45-s exposures taken with the
Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakala (discovery observations tabulated below);
in each exposure, the object appears extended compared to adjacent stars.
Follow-up R-band images obtained by Hsieh with the University of Hawaii 2.2-m
telescope on Mauna Kea on Oct. 22 UT confirm that the object is clearly
cometary, noting a coma that shows a slight extension to the southwest.
After posting on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, other CCD
astrometrists have also commented on the object's cometary appearance.
L. Buzzi (Varese, Italy; 0.60-m f/4.64 reflector; Oct. 23.2) finds the object
to be clearly softer than stars nearby; a stack of images totalling 30 min
of exposure time in good seeing reveals a strong central condensation
surrounded by an 8" coma or red mag 19.5, possibly faintly extended to the
west.  H. Sato (Tokyo, Japan; remotely using a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph at the
RAS Observatory near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; Oct. 23.4) writes that he measured
a coma 8" in diameter with a faint tail 16" long toward p.a. 260 degrees.

     2012 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Oct. 21.55138    3 41 38.12   +10 02 19.7   20.7
          21.56744    3 41 37.79   +10 02 15.4   20.6
          21.58348    3 41 37.45   +10 02 11.1   20.4
          21.59961    3 41 37.12   +10 02 06.8   20.4

The available astrometry (including prediscovery observations from the
Mount Lemmon Survey on Oct. 20), the following preliminary elliptical
orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC
2012-U93.

     T = 2012 Aug. 27.8394 TT         Peri. = 213.6793
     e = 0.558845                     Node  = 184.2301  2000.0
     q = 3.452330 AU                  Incl. =   9.9307
       a =  7.825659 AU    n = 0.0450218    P =  21.9 years


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 October 25                  (CBET 3268)              Daniel W. E. Green