Electronic Telegram No. 5670
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


(555678) 2014 CO_23
     B. Proudfoot, Florida Space Institute; W. Grundy, Northern Arizona 
University; D. Ragozzine, Brigham Young University; B. Holler, Space Telescope 
Science Institute; F. L. Rommel, Florida Space Institute; and E. Fernandez-
Valenzuela, Florida Space Institute, report that the "scattered-disk"
trans-Neptunian object (555678) is an approximately equal-sized binary.  The 
binary was discovered in four 350-s Hubble Space Telescope exposures taken 
with the WFC3/UVIS camera (+ F350LP filter) on 2026 Mar. 9.  The resolved 
components are separated by approximately 0".135 in p.a. 172 deg.  The primary 
is about 0.34 mag brighter than the secondary.  At the time of the first 
discovery image (2026 Mar. 9.698 UT), the primary was located at R.A. = 
12h35m53.69s, Decl. = -2d04'14".9 (equinox J2000). 


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
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                         (C) Copyright 2026 CBAT
2026 March 17                    (CBET 5670)              Daniel W. E. Green