Comet discovered in August 2016
P/2016 P1 PANSTARRS
R. Wainscoat and R. Weryk report the discovery of a comet in images obtained with Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakala(USA) on Aug. 1.4 UT (CBET4297). After the comet was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists, like Maury and Soulier(FRA), confirmed comet nature. The available astrometry, the following elliptical orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2016-P119.
T = 2015 Sept. 9.6161
Peri. = 267.7040
Node = 319.5436
q = 2.277417 AU
e = 0.293990
Incl. = 25.5917
a = 3.225758 AU
P = 5.79 years
P/2016 P2 PANSTARRS
R. Wainscoat and E. Lilly report the discovery of another comet images obtained with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakala on Aug. 8 UT(CBET4298). The comet appear with a little tail of 10”. After the comet was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have also commented on the object's cometary appearance. The available astrometry, the following elliptical orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2016-P120.
T = 2015 Nov. 16.5490
Peri. = 352.1259
Node = 283.3965
e = 0.300261
Incl. = 12.7575
q = 3.109945 AU
a = 4.444435 AU
P = 9.37 years
©Michael Jager
C/2016 Q2 PANSTARRS
E. Lilly, R. Weryk, and R. Wainscoat report the discovery of another comet in three w-band exposures obtained with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on Aug. 26 UT (CBET4311). After the comet was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have also commented on the object's cometary appearance. The available astrometry, the following preliminary orbital elements by G. V. Williams (from 17 observations spanning Aug. 26-30), and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2016-Q53.
T = 2020 Jan. 3.4689
Peri. = 111.0386
Node = 321.1825
q = 3.433919 AU
Incl. = 62.9565
e=1.0
C/2016 P4 PANSTARRS
R. J. Wainscoat reports the discovery of an apparent comet in exposures obtained with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on Aug. 7 UT (CBET 4317). The object appears slightly soft in the discovery images, though very faint. The available astrometry, from 34 observations spanning July 31-Sept. 7, appears on MPEC 2016-R88.
T = 2016 Oct. 16.6432
Peri. = 356.0166
Node = 320.7940
Incl. = 29.9013
e = 0.982119
q = 5.888697 AU
C/2016 Q4 KOWALSKI
R. A. Kowalski reports his discovery of a comet with a condensed coma approximately 8" in diameter on CCD images taken with the Mt. Lemmon 1.5-m reflector on August 30 (CBET 4314). After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, other CCD astrometrists have also commented on the cometary appearance. P. Birtwhistle, Great Shefford, Berkshire, England, writes that images taken on Aug. 30.9 UT show the object to be diffuse, with a soft appearance and with a FWHM about 20 percent larger than nearby stars of similar magnitude; K. Sarneczky, Konkoly Observatory; and P. Szekely, University of Szeged, report that twelve stacked 120-s unfiltered images taken with the 0.60-m Schmidt telescope at Piszkesteto, Hungary, on Aug. 31.9 show a condensed coma 10" in diameter and two tails; the primary is 15" long at p.a. 250 deg, while the secondary is slightly curved, 10" long toward about p.a. 340 deg. Sarneczky adds that the R-band magnitude was 19.7 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 5".0.
R. Weryk found pre-discovery images on exposures obtained with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope at Haleakala on July 11.54-11.55 UT (w-band magnitude 22.2, with a short tail extending about 4" toward the west) and on Aug. 3.5 (mag 21.8-22.2, with a tail as on July 11).
The available astrometry, the following elliptical orbital elements by G. V. Williams, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2016-R18:
T = 2018 Jan. 29.08680
Peri. = 99.55312
Node = 271.31588
Incl. = 7.25748
q = 7.0822057 AU
e = 0.5791117
a = 16.8268076 AU
P = 69.02 years
©M.Jager