------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 3008 2014 Jun 18 12.19UT 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 P/2014 L2 (NEOWISE) Rachel A. Stevenson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports on CBET 3901 the discovery of a comet on images taken with the NEOWISE satellite: 2014 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. June 7.40861 23 01 26.80 - 4 58 58.6 7.93503 23 02 12.79 - 4 55 15.0 8.06657 23 02 24.18 - 4 54 19.7 8.92202 23 03 38.45 - 4 48 20.7 9.05356 23 03 49.76 - 4 47 25.7 In response to NEOCP and PCCP webpages, numerous other ground-based CCD astrometrists have reported. G. Hug (Scranton, KS, U.S.A.; 0.56-m reflector) notes the object to be an obvious comet with a condensed coma of red mag 16.0 and a short, broad tail about 20" long in p.a. about 250 deg on his images taken on June 11.37 UT; follow-up images taken on June 13.4 in bright full-moonlight that washed out faint details still show a tail about 6"-8" wide that tapered to a point about 20" long in p.a. about 250 degrees. Thirteen co-added unfiltered 60-s images taken by E. Bryssinck (Belgium; 0.4-m f/3.8 astrograph) on June 12.08 reveal a coma of size 11" x 14" and a hint of a tail about 27" long towards p.a. 231 degrees; twenty co-added 120-s images taken on June 15.07 with a Bessel R filter show a coma of size 14" x 19" (magnitude 15.9 in an aperture of size 14"), elongated towards p.a. 289 degrees with a hint of a tail 21" long in p.a. 247 degrees. H. Sato, Tokyo, Japan, writes that w-band luminance-filtered images obtained on June 15.4 with an iTelescope 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph near Mayhill show a strongly condensed coma 25" in diameter (and mag 15.3 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 13".0) with a 1'.5 tail toward p.a. 255 deg. Elements and ephemeris by Gareth Williams (M.P.E.C. 2014-L61): T 2014 Aug. 4.59359 TT MPC q 2.1182084 (2000.0) P Q n 0.13796486 Peri. 190.59944 +0.93019201 +0.36390425 a 3.7092866 Node 147.92818 -0.32980338 +0.88609838 e 0.4289445 Incl. 5.20066 -0.16116006 +0.28705986 P 7.14 >From 140 observations 2014 June 7-15. Ephemeris: Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. m1 2014 06 14 23 10 48.1 -04 14 11 1.8037 2.1553 95.6 16.6 2014 06 15 23 12 10.5 -04 07 44 1.7921 2.1539 96.2 16.6 2014 06 16 23 13 32.2 -04 01 23 1.7805 2.1525 96.8 16.6 2014 06 22 23 21 25.4 -03 25 31 1.7121 2.1448 100.5 16.5 2014 06 30 23 31 06.4 -02 44 30 1.6239 2.1360 105.7 16.3 2014 07 15 23 46 13.4 -01 53 03 1.4701 2.1242 116.2 16.1 SUPERNOVA 2014ak IN NGC 2446 (XINGMING SKY SURVEY) 2014ak Mar 26.69 07 48 44.10 +54 36 40.5 17.9 54.8"E 2.4"S G. Terreran: spectrum Mar 31 type-Ia supernova a few days before B-band maximum. Guy M Hurst