Electronic Telegram No. 5160 Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams Mailing address: 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/2022 O2 (PANSTARRS) Yudish Ramanjooloo, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, reports the discovery of another comet in four 45-s w-band images obtained with the Pan-STARRS2 1.8-m Ritchey-Chretien reflector at Haleakala on Aug. 17 (discovery observations tabulated below). There appears to be a diffuse coma of size about 2".2 (full-width-at-half-maximum) in 1".4-1".5 seeing, and thre is a tail about 2" long and about 2" wide toward p.a. 154 degrees. 2022 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Aug. 17.27310 20 41 48.16 -23 03 02.8 20.3 17.28454 20 41 47.50 -23 03 01.4 20.2 17.29596 20 41 46.87 -23 03 00.1 20.2 17.30737 20 41 46.24 -23 02 58.6 20.1 R. Weryk, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, writes that he was able to identify this comet via Pan-STARRS2 observations that were previously reported to the Minor Planet Center's "isolated tracklet file" on July 21.4 (at mag 20.7-20.9) and Aug. 1.4 UT (mag 20.4-20.6). This permitted him to identify previously unreported Pan-STARRS2 astrometry from June 9.6 (mag 22.8), July 5.5 (mag 21.6-21.9), amd July 23.5-23.6 (mag 20.5- 20.7). The four 45-s w-band survey images taken on Aug. 1 show a condensed coma of size 1".9 (FWHM) in 1".6 seeing, with a possible tail toward p.a. 340 degrees based on point-spread-function asymmetry. Weryk adds that images on the other nights do not permit him to make any realistic assessment of cometary appearance. Weryk and R. Wainscoat obtained three 60-s gri-band follow-up images on Aug. 18.37 with the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea (queue observer L. Wells; coordinator T. Burdullis), which show a condensed coma of size 0".9 (FWHM) in 0".7 seeing with a broad tail about 1" long in p.a. 310-10 degrees. The remaining astrometry appears below (the MPC assigned designation-discovery credit to the July 21 ITF observations). 2022 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. June 9.58510 21 13 15.10 -23 35 14.0 22.8 July 5.51502 21 13 15.02 -23 23 14.2 21.6 5.52458 21 13 14.80 -23 23 14.1 21.9 5.53404 21 13 14.57 -23 23 14.3 21.8 5.54356 21 13 14.37 -23 23 14.0 21.8 21.40145 21 05 00.31 -23 26 18.7 20.8 21.43647 21 04 58.76 -23 26 18.9 20.7 21.44666 21 04 58.29 -23 26 19.3 20.9 23.49632 21 03 29.29 -23 26 28.7 20.5 23.60912 21 03 24.02 -23 26 28.2 20.7 Aug. 1.37950 20 56 14.40 -23 24 34.6 20.6 1.39033 20 56 13.81 -23 24 34.4 20.4 1.41197 20 56 12.62 -23 24 33.8 20.4 18.37163 20 40 49.74 -23 00 27.0 20.1 18.37283 20 40 49.67 -23 00 26.8 20.1 18.37404 20 40 49.60 -23 00 26.6 20.2 The following elliptical two-body orbital elements by S. Nakano (Central Bureau) are from 20 observations spanning 2022 June 9-Aug. 18; the orbital period is uncertain by at least a week or more, but these elements suggest that the comet made an approach of about 1.10 AU to Saturn in 1980 July. Nakano notes the lone observation on June 9 as possibly skewing the results somewhat; he was unable to identify further observations in archival astrometry. T = 2023 Jan. 7.15463 TT Peri. = 48.65429 e = 0.7215250 Node = 330.49874 2000.0 q = 1.7568484 AU Incl. = 9.42684 a = 6.3088203 AU n = 0.06219878 P = 15.8 years The following ephemeris by the undersigned from the above orbital elements uses photometric power-law parameters H = 16.0 and 2.5n = 10 for the magnitudes. Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase Mag. 2022 08 09 20 49.34 -23 17.7 1.368 2.374 170.6 4.0 20.4 2022 08 19 20 40.28 -22 58.8 1.331 2.309 160.3 8.5 20.3 2022 08 29 20 32.40 -22 26.8 1.317 2.246 149.3 13.3 20.1 2022 09 08 20 26.90 -21 41.4 1.323 2.184 138.7 17.7 20.0 2022 09 18 20 24.61 -20 44.0 1.346 2.125 128.7 21.7 19.9 2022 09 28 20 25.90 -19 36.2 1.382 2.069 119.5 24.9 19.9 2022 10 08 20 30.84 -18 18.8 1.427 2.015 111.1 27.6 19.8 2022 10 18 20 39.19 -16 52.0 1.478 1.966 103.5 29.5 19.8 2022 10 28 20 50.61 -15 15.5 1.533 1.921 96.6 30.9 19.8 2022 11 07 21 04.72 -13 28.4 1.590 1.880 90.4 31.8 19.7 2022 11 17 21 21.11 -11 30.3 1.649 1.844 84.8 32.3 19.7 2022 11 27 21 39.42 -09 20.6 1.710 1.814 79.7 32.4 19.8 2022 12 07 21 59.34 -06 59.6 1.771 1.790 75.0 32.1 19.8 NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2022 CBAT 2022 August 19 (CBET 5160) Daniel W. E. Green