Electronic Telegram No. 5263 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/2022 V2 (LEMMON) An apparently asteroidal object discovered on CCD images obtained on 2022 Nov. 2 with the Mt. Lemmon Survey 1.5-m reflector (discovery observations tabulated below) has been found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere. 2022 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Nov. 2.06454 17 59 44.89 +43 39 19.5 20.6 2.07034 17 59 44.97 +43 39 16.7 21.5 2.07615 17 59 45.05 +43 39 14.0 21.0 2.08195 17 59 45.08 +43 39 11.3 20.8 After the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage, H. Sato (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan) reported several months ago that he found the object to be strongly condensed with a coma 8" in diameter and no tail in sixteen stacked 60-s CCD exposures obtained on 2023 Feb. 2.54-2.55 UT with a 0.51-m f/6.8 astrograph located at the Utah Desert Remote Observatory near Beryl Junction, UT, USA; the magnitude was 19.9 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 4".9. Twelve additional stacked 60-s exposures taken by Sato with the same telescope on May 13.2 show a strongly condensed coma 8" in diameter, again with no tail; the magnitude was 18.9 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 4".9. The available astrometry appears on MPEC 2023-K121 (including pre- discovery observations identified subsequently in images obtained with the Pan-STARRS2 1.8-m Ritchey-Chretien reflector at Haleakala on 2022 July 20 at mag 21.3-21.4 and on 2022 Sept. 2 at mag 21.1-21.3), along with other reports of cometary appearance. The following orbital elements by S. Nakano (Central Bureau) are from 293 observations spanning 2022 July 20-2023 May 23 (mean residual 0".4); there is no close approach to any major planets, and no further observations were found in an archival search. Epoch = 2023 Oct. 23.0 TT T = 2023 Nov. 1.92451 TT Peri. = 168.94908 e = 0.9440140 Node = 332.87093 2000.0 q = 2.0635661 AU Incl. = 98.90518 The following ephemeris by the undersigned from the above orbital elements uses photometric power-law parameters H = 12.0 and 2.5n = 8 for the magnitudes. Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase Mag. 2023 05 16 15 17.36 +81 02.5 2.807 2.814 80.0 20.7 17.8 2023 05 21 14 05.36 +80 27.8 2.795 2.778 78.6 20.9 17.8 2023 05 26 13 07.87 +78 59.1 2.788 2.743 76.9 21.1 17.7 2023 05 31 12 27.56 +76 54.6 2.785 2.707 75.1 21.2 17.7 2023 06 05 12 00.53 +74 29.7 2.788 2.673 73.0 21.3 17.6 2023 06 10 11 42.49 +71 53.6 2.794 2.639 70.7 21.3 17.6 2023 06 15 11 30.41 +69 12.2 2.804 2.605 68.3 21.2 17.6 2023 06 20 11 22.35 +66 28.8 2.818 2.572 65.7 21.1 17.5 2023 06 25 11 17.07 +63 45.6 2.834 2.540 63.0 20.9 17.5 2023 06 30 11 13.76 +61 04.1 2.852 2.508 60.2 20.6 17.5 2023 07 05 11 11.88 +58 25.3 2.873 2.477 57.4 20.2 17.4 2023 07 10 11 11.06 +55 49.8 2.894 2.447 54.5 19.8 17.4 2023 07 15 11 11.05 +53 17.9 2.915 2.418 51.5 19.2 17.4 2023 07 20 11 11.66 +50 49.9 2.937 2.389 48.6 18.6 17.4 2023 07 25 11 12.74 +48 25.9 2.957 2.361 45.6 17.9 17.3 2023 07 30 11 14.20 +46 06.0 2.977 2.335 42.7 17.1 17.3 2023 08 04 11 15.94 +43 50.0 2.995 2.309 39.8 16.3 17.3 2023 10 23 11 51.43 +13 30.0 2.759 2.067 37.9 17.2 16.7 2023 11 02 11 53.86 +09 55.1 2.643 2.064 45.0 19.9 16.6 2023 11 12 11 55.02 +06 12.5 2.509 2.067 52.8 22.4 16.5 2023 11 22 11 54.45 +02 17.8 2.362 2.077 61.3 24.7 16.4 2023 12 02 11 51.57 -01 53.9 2.206 2.093 70.4 26.3 16.3 2023 12 12 11 45.57 -06 27.8 2.048 2.115 80.2 27.3 16.2 2023 12 22 11 35.35 -11 27.5 1.895 2.144 90.5 27.3 16.0 2024 01 01 11 19.58 -16 52.3 1.759 2.178 101.4 26.3 15.9 2024 01 11 10 56.76 -22 31.0 1.651 2.217 112.1 24.3 15.9 2024 01 21 10 25.88 -27 55.6 1.583 2.261 121.7 21.7 15.8 2024 01 31 09 47.70 -32 23.3 1.567 2.309 128.1 19.6 15.9 2024 02 10 09 05.78 -35 14.7 1.606 2.362 129.7 18.7 16.0 2024 02 20 08 25.74 -36 19.2 1.697 2.418 126.4 19.2 16.2 2024 03 01 07 52.20 -36 00.2 1.830 2.478 119.9 20.3 16.5 2024 03 11 07 26.91 -34 53.6 1.994 2.541 112.1 21.2 16.7 2024 03 21 07 09.38 -33 29.5 2.177 2.606 104.1 21.8 17.0 2024 03 31 06 58.17 -32 06.7 2.371 2.674 96.4 21.8 17.3 2024 04 10 06 51.84 -30 54.8 2.569 2.743 89.2 21.4 17.6 2024 04 20 06 49.17 -29 58.5 2.763 2.815 82.5 20.7 17.8 2024 04 30 06 49.22 -29 19.3 2.951 2.888 76.5 19.8 18.0 2024 05 10 06 51.32 -28 57.5 3.130 2.963 71.2 18.8 18.3 NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2023 CBAT 2023 May 24 (CBET 5263) Daniel W. E. Green