Electronic Telegram No. 5261
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 C/2023 F2 (SOHO)
     K. Battams, Naval Research Laboratory, reports that a fairly bright (peak
V magnitude about 5.5) Meyer-group sungrazing comet was found by Hanjie Tan
in SOHO C3 coronagraph website images.  The positional measurements were made
by Battams, and reduced astrometry from both C2 and C3 coronagraphs (reported
by B. Gray) appear on MPEC 2023-K46, with the first and last observations
tabulated below.  Battams notes that the comet appeared stellar with no
apparent coma or tail.

     2023 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        Mag.
     Mar. 21.00517    0 05 00.1    + 1 28 53       5
          21.59683   23 51 52.4    + 1 39 55       7

The following parabolic orbital elements by S. Nakano (Central Bureau) are
from 73 single-day observations on Mar. 21 (mean residual 10".8).  Note that
the perturbed hyperbolic orbit on MPEC 2023-K46 (with a half-day arc and 
semi-accurate astrometry) should be disregarded.

     T = 2023 Mar. 21.1633 TT         Peri. =  57.1588
                                      Node  =  72.1992  2000.0
     q = 0.034253 AU                  Incl. =  71.8551


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2023 CBAT
2023 May 19                      (CBET 5261)              Daniel W. E. Green