Electronic Telegram No. 5186 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/2003 CC_22 = P/2022 B5 (SHEPPARD-JEWITT) An apparently asteroidal object discovered by Scott Sheppard and David Jewitt on images taken on 2003 Mar. 2 with the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea in a search for new Jupiter satellites (and originally thought to possibly be a new satellite of Jupiter) has been found to show cometary appearance elswhere in 2022 observations now. The discovery observations from MPEC 2003-G16 (where the object was given the minor-planet designation 2003 CC_22) are tabulated below. Pre-discovery CCD observations were also obtained by M. Holman et al. at the Kitt Peak 4-m reflector on 2003 Feb. 2 and 4 (at R mag 23.2). 2003 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer Feb. 8.34332 8 56 08.02 +18 38 34.8 22.8 Sheppard 8.36322 8 56 07.37 +18 38 38.5 " 10.49016 8 55 02.72 +18 45 20.3 " 10.49778 8 55 02.51 +18 45 21.8 " 23.47832 8 48 59.84 +19 22 37.8 21.9 " 23.48656 8 48 59.64 +19 22 38.9 " 26.38863 8 47 49.56 +19 29 54.9 22.2 " 26.41172 8 47 48.99 +19 29 58.4 " Mar. 2.52726 8 46 18.67 +19 39 28.2 21.9 " 2.53291 8 46 18.54 +19 39 28.9 " 3.48492 8 45 59.36 +19 41 32.7 21.8 " 3.49086 8 45 59.22 +19 41 33.5 " Apr. 3.32985 8 42 35.25 +20 16 06.9 21.6 " 3.40912 8 42 35.79 +20 16 06.8 " July 2.25985 9 42 49.49 +16 27 14.2 " 2.26315 9 42 49.68 +16 27 12.8 " M. S. P. Kelley, J. Bauer, and Q. Ye, University of Maryland; and D. Bodewits, Auburn University, on behalf of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) partnership, report on observations of minor planet 2003 CC_22 in ZTF survey data taken with the 1.2-m Samuel Oschin Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory during 2022 Sept. 17-27 UT. A tail was first noticed in stacked images taken on Sept. 27.5 UT, with a very condensed coma of diameter 8" and a straight 15" long toward p.a. 280 deg; the magnitude was r = 19.2 in an aperture of 5" radius (PS1 photometric system), corresponding to an Af(rho) value of 85 cm (119 cm at 0 deg phase; cf. A'Hearn et al. 1984, AJ 89, 579; see also IAUCs 4983, 6244). Recent ZTF observations of the object date back to 2022 Sept. 17, and a review of those data show that the tail is visible in observations starting on Sept. 20; however, detection of the tail on Sept. 17 and 18 are likely affected by a higher background brightness on those nights. Prior observations by the ZTF on 2022 Feb. 19.2 (magnitude 19.0) and on Apr. 5.2 (mag 18.6), 14.2 (mag 18.5), 24.2, and 26.2 (mag 18.3) also suggest possible cometary activity. The corresponding absolute magnitudes decreased with time, suggestive of increasing cometary activity. During the period 2022 Apr. 5-28 (5 nights), the size of the object was 2".3 (full-width-at- half-maximum), or slightly larger than nearby stars (2".1 FHWM). Ye adds that CCD images obtained on Oct. 27.5 with the 4.3-m Lowell Observatory Discovery Telescope (measured by Kelley and Ye) show a 2' tail toward p.a. 290 degrees; the magnitude was measured to be 21.4-21.5. Following a request from the Central Bureau regarding the publication of many nights of astrometry during 2022 Feb. 22-May 18 at mag 18-19 in the course of the "Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System" (ATLAS) search program, N. Erasmus (South African Astronomical Observatory) and A. Fitzsimmons (Queen's University, Belfast) write that this object was at the detection threshold for ATLAS, so that cometary appearance is too difficult to ascertain. Five stacked 120-s CCD exposures taken remotely on Oct. 26.5 UT by H. Sato (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan) with a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph located at Mayhill, NM, USA, show a moderately condensed, elongated coma of size 6" x 12" and a fan-like tail 25" long spanning p.a. 280-340 degrees; the magnitude was 18.9 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 7".6. The following ZTF observations were not included on MPEC 2022-V36: 2022 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Feb. 19.15143 6 30 45.65 +21 03 36.8 19.0 Apr. 5.20708 6 39 46.61 +21 45 44.1 18.6 14.15879 6 44 54.93 +21 49 11.1 18.5 24.17484 6 51 43.76 +21 50 27.3 18.6 26.20541 6 53 14.19 +21 50 21.0 18.3 The following linked orbital elements by S. Nakano (Central Bureau) are from 161 observations spanning 2003-2022 (mean residual 0".8); these suggest that the comet passed 0.12 AU from Saturn on 1938 Jan. and 0.50 AU from Jupiter in 1947 June, and 0.73 AU from Saturn on 1997 Sept. 10 and 0.81 AU from Jupiter on 2002 Sept. 3 UT. Epoch = 2003 Aug. 29.0 TT T = 2003 Sept.17.25634 TT Peri. = 38.47135 e = 0.4368125 Node = 124.06277 2000.0 q = 4.2023880 AU Incl. = 6.40861 a = 7.4617915 AU n = 0.04835478 P = 20.38 years Epoch = 2023 Apr. 6.0 TT T = 2023 Apr. 25.65055 TT Peri. = 37.05009 e = 0.4273155 Node = 123.69804 2000.0 q = 4.1781773 AU Incl. = 6.42235 a = 7.2957745 AU n = 0.05001462 P = 19.71 years Epoch = 2043 Mar. 12.0 TT T = 2043 Feb. 21.42584 TT Peri. = 37.59135 e = 0.4280161 Node = 123.68224 2000.0 q = 4.1747551 AU Incl. = 6.41904 a = 7.2987286 AU n = 0.04998426 P = 19.72 years The following ephemeris by the undersigned from the above orbital elements uses photometric power-law parameters H = 10.0 and 2.5n = 8 for the magnitudes. Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase Mag. 2022 10 08 09 46.72 +14 27.1 4.887 4.318 50.4 10.3 18.5 2022 10 18 09 56.00 +13 48.7 4.751 4.305 57.9 11.3 18.5 2022 10 28 10 04.61 +13 13.2 4.604 4.292 65.7 12.2 18.4 2022 11 07 10 12.42 +12 41.7 4.450 4.280 73.7 12.8 18.3 2022 11 17 10 19.32 +12 15.5 4.291 4.269 82.1 13.3 18.2 2022 11 27 10 25.17 +11 55.5 4.130 4.258 90.7 13.4 18.1 2022 12 07 10 29.84 +11 43.0 3.969 4.248 99.7 13.2 18.0 2022 12 17 10 33.21 +11 38.8 3.814 4.238 109.1 12.7 17.9 2022 12 27 10 35.15 +11 43.8 3.667 4.229 118.8 11.8 17.8 2023 01 06 10 35.61 +11 58.0 3.533 4.221 129.0 10.4 17.7 2023 01 16 10 34.59 +12 21.1 3.417 4.214 139.5 8.7 17.7 2023 01 26 10 32.18 +12 51.9 3.323 4.207 150.3 6.7 17.6 2023 02 05 10 28.60 +13 28.3 3.255 4.201 161.3 4.3 17.5 2023 02 15 10 24.20 +14 07.6 3.215 4.196 172.1 1.9 17.5 2023 02 25 10 19.39 +14 46.7 3.205 4.191 174.0 1.4 17.5 2023 03 07 10 14.68 +15 22.2 3.226 4.187 163.7 3.8 17.5 2023 03 17 10 10.53 +15 51.7 3.274 4.184 152.8 6.2 17.5 2023 03 27 10 07.35 +16 13.1 3.349 4.181 142.1 8.4 17.6 2023 04 06 10 05.44 +16 25.4 3.445 4.180 131.8 10.3 17.7 2023 04 16 10 04.97 +16 28.3 3.560 4.179 121.9 11.8 17.7 2023 04 26 10 05.98 +16 22.0 3.689 4.178 112.5 12.9 17.8 2023 05 06 10 08.46 +16 07.0 3.827 4.179 103.4 13.6 17.9 2023 05 16 10 12.30 +15 44.0 3.972 4.180 94.8 13.9 18.0 2023 05 26 10 17.39 +15 13.7 4.119 4.182 86.5 14.0 18.0 2023 06 05 10 23.57 +14 36.9 4.265 4.184 78.6 13.7 18.1 2023 06 15 10 30.69 +13 54.2 4.408 4.187 70.9 13.3 18.2 2023 06 25 10 38.64 +13 06.3 4.545 4.191 63.5 12.5 18.3 NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2022 CBAT 2022 November 2 (CBET 5186) Daniel W. E. Green