New Comet: C/2013 G3 (PANSTARRS)

April 15, 2013
Cbet nr. 3472, issued on 2013, April 04, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude ~20.7) by PANSTARRS survey on CCD images obtained with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope on Haleakala on April 10.4. The new comet has been designated C/2013 G3 (PANSTARRS).

We performed follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of 11 R-filtered exposures, 50-sec each, obtained remotely on 2013, April 11.4 from E10 Faulkes Telescope South through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows that this object is slightly diffused.The FWHM of this object was measured about 20% wider than that of nearby field stars of similar brightness.

In the elaboration below you can see the difference between the comet (on the left) and a star of similiar brightness (on the right). The comet shows a slighly extended shape with respect to the star.

M.P.E.C. 2013-G73 assigns the following preliminary elliptical orbital elements to comet C/2013 G3: T 2015 Jan.  9.21; e= 0.58; Peri. = 72.08; q = 4.33;  Incl.= 55.27

by Ernesto Guido & Nick Howes

Source:
http://remanzacco.blogspot.ch/2013/04/new-comet-c2013-g3-panstarrs.html