------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2980 2014 Feb 08 10.51UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074 INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK Backup: gmh@wdcc1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.theastronomer.org ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET C/2014 C2 (STEREO) K. Battams, Naval Research Laboratory, reports that a comet has been found by Alan Watson in images obtained with the STEREO-A satellite and astrometry and photometry was submitted to Battams from Man-To Hui (Canton, China), and the computed geocentric position for the first astrometric observation is tabulated below. Battams notes a nuclear condensation that is slightly diffuse, and the comet clearly has a thin, diffuse tail, adding that the peak brightness was probably around mag 6 and that the comet may have transited the solar disk as observed from the spacecraft; by the time that the comet left the HI-1 field-of-view, the brightness was around mag 12, and it then appeared very diffuse and elongated with no nuclear condensation apparent. 2014 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Feb. 1.46 20 09.77 -19 34.0 7.0 The object may be near mag 13-14 at elongations 20-30 deg for ground-based observers in the next week or two, if the comet has survived intact. T = 2014 Feb. 18.6577 TT Peri. = 57.5181 Node = 283.3470 2000.0 q = 0.508074 AU Incl. = 135.3097 Ephemeris by Gareth Williams from M.P.E.C. 2014-C25: Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. m1 2014 02 01 20 09 48.1 -19 52 52 1.5918 0.6566 11.5 15.9 2014 02 02 20 09 44.4 -19 11 30 1.5687 0.6425 12.5 15.6 2014 02 03 20 09 42.2 -18 28 50 1.5449 0.6289 13.4 15.4 2014 02 04 20 09 41.8 -17 44 45 1.5203 0.6156 14.3 15.2 2014 02 05 20 09 43.6 -16 59 10 1.4950 0.6029 15.3 15.0 2014 02 06 20 09 48.2 -16 11 59 1.4689 0.5908 16.3 14.8 2014 02 07 20 09 55.9 -15 23 05 1.4421 0.5793 17.2 14.6 2014 02 08 20 10 07.4 -14 32 21 1.4145 0.5684 18.2 14.3 2014 02 09 20 10 23.3 -13 39 38 1.3862 0.5583 19.2 14.1 2014 02 10 20 10 44.5 -12 44 48 1.3572 0.5489 20.2 14.0 2014 02 11 20 11 11.7 -11 47 43 1.3274 0.5404 21.1 13.8 2014 02 12 20 11 45.9 -10 48 13 1.2971 0.5327 22.1 13.6 2014 02 13 20 12 28.2 -09 46 07 1.2661 0.5260 23.0 13.4 2014 02 14 20 13 19.6 -08 41 15 1.2345 0.5203 23.9 13.3 2014 02 15 20 14 21.6 -07 33 23 1.2025 0.5157 24.8 13.1 2014 02 16 20 15 35.4 -06 22 20 1.1700 0.5121 25.7 13.0 2014 02 17 20 17 02.6 -05 07 52 1.1372 0.5097 26.6 12.9 2014 02 18 20 18 44.8 -03 49 43 1.1042 0.5083 27.4 12.8 2014 02 19 20 20 43.8 -02 27 37 1.0711 0.5081 28.2 12.8 2014 02 20 20 23 01.5 -01 01 18 1.0380 0.5091 29.0 12.7 2014 02 21 20 25 39.9 +00 29 32 1.0051 0.5112 29.7 12.7 Gareth adds that the magnitudes in the above ephemeris are wildly uncertain. Guy M Hurst