Electronic Telegram No. 5672 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/2026 A2 (BOK) An apparently asteroidal object discovered on CCD images obtained on Jan. 15 with the Bok 2.25-m reflector at Kitt Peak (discovery observations tabulated below) has been found to show cometary appearance by observers elsewhere after posting on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage due to its comet-like orbit. 2026 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Jan. 15.53631 16 43 26.33 +33 22 06.2 20.3 15.54376 16 43 26.88 +33 22 10.6 20.4 15.55121 16 43 27.41 +33 22 15.1 20.6 R. Weryk, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, writes that three stacked 60-s gri-band images obtained with the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea on Feb. 18.65 UT (queue observer J. Silva; queue coordinator N. Manset) in 0".85 seeing show a very condensed head of size 1".2 (full-width-at-half-maximum) and a 16" tail spanning p.a. 260-285 degrees. Two-hundred-thirty-eight unfiltered 30-s CCD exposures taken on Feb. 18.13 with a 0.36-m f/7.5 reflector shows this to be clearly a comet, with a 6" coma and a faint, straight 10"-long tail in p.a. 275 deg. Twenty four stacked 60-s CMOS exposures taken remotely by H. Sato (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan) with a 0.51-m f/3 astrograph located at the Utah Desert Remote Observatory (near Beryl Junction, UT, USA) on Feb. 5.5 UT show only a stellar apperance; the magnitude was 19.7 as measured within a circular aperture of radius 3".0. The available astrometry appears on MPEC 2026-F122. The following two-body orbital elements by S. Nakano (Central Bureau) are from 166 observations spanning 2026 Jan. 15-Mar. 18 (mean residual 0".4). There are no close approaches to major planets. T = 2026 Dec. 22.36698 TT Peri. = 155.93347 e = 0.9975526 Node = 206.59228 2000.0 q = 1.9379808 AU Incl. = 82.30673 The following ephemeris by Nakano from the above orbital elements uses photometric power-law parameters H = 11.0 and 2.5n = 8 for the magnitudes. Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase Mag. 2025 12 01 15 50.54 +28 45.8 5.211 4.659 51.3 9.5 19.9 2025 12 11 16 01.59 +29 18.8 5.067 4.573 54.9 10.1 19.8 2025 12 21 16 13.03 +30 06.5 4.914 4.486 58.9 10.8 19.7 2025 12 31 16 24.76 +31 10.0 4.755 4.400 63.2 11.5 19.5 2026 01 10 16 36.73 +32 30.2 4.591 4.313 67.6 12.2 19.4 2026 01 20 16 48.87 +34 08.0 4.427 4.226 71.9 12.8 19.2 2026 01 30 17 01.06 +36 03.9 4.264 4.139 76.1 13.4 19.1 2026 02 09 17 13.23 +38 18.0 4.106 4.052 80.0 13.9 18.9 2026 02 19 17 25.26 +40 49.8 3.955 3.965 83.4 14.3 18.8 2026 03 01 17 37.01 +43 38.3 3.813 3.878 86.3 14.8 18.6 2026 03 11 17 48.34 +46 41.5 3.682 3.791 88.6 15.2 18.5 2026 03 21 17 59.07 +49 57.0 3.564 3.704 90.2 15.6 18.3 2026 03 31 18 08.94 +53 21.4 3.459 3.616 90.9 16.0 18.2 2026 04 10 18 17.68 +56 50.9 3.367 3.530 91.0 16.5 18.0 2026 04 20 18 24.86 +60 21.2 3.288 3.443 90.3 17.0 17.9 2026 04 30 18 29.96 +63 47.6 3.218 3.356 89.1 17.5 17.7 2026 05 10 18 32.27 +67 05.6 3.157 3.271 87.4 18.0 17.6 2026 05 20 18 30.79 +70 10.2 3.102 3.185 85.4 18.5 17.5 2026 05 30 18 24.34 +72 56.3 3.050 3.100 83.3 18.9 17.4 2026 06 09 18 11.59 +75 18.3 2.998 3.016 81.3 19.4 17.2 2026 06 19 17 51.60 +77 10.4 2.944 2.933 79.4 19.9 17.1 2026 06 29 17 25.18 +78 26.8 2.886 2.851 77.9 20.4 16.9 2026 07 09 16 55.85 +79 04.9 2.821 2.770 76.8 20.9 16.8 2026 07 19 16 29.35 +79 06.8 2.747 2.691 76.2 21.5 16.6 2026 07 29 16 10.96 +78 39.4 2.663 2.614 76.2 22.2 16.5 2026 08 08 16 03.11 +77 51.3 2.570 2.538 76.8 22.9 16.3 2026 08 18 16 06.04 +76 48.5 2.467 2.466 78.1 23.7 16.1 2026 08 28 16 18.92 +75 33.7 2.354 2.395 80.0 24.5 15.9 2026 09 07 16 40.61 +74 05.0 2.234 2.328 82.6 25.4 15.7 2026 09 17 17 09.92 +72 15.9 2.109 2.265 85.6 26.3 15.5 2026 09 27 17 45.30 +69 56.2 1.983 2.206 89.0 27.0 15.2 2026 10 07 18 24.66 +66 52.0 1.863 2.151 92.4 27.7 15.0 2026 10 17 19 05.69 +62 49.3 1.754 2.102 95.7 28.2 14.8 2026 10 27 19 46.15 +57 39.1 1.665 2.058 98.2 28.6 14.6 2026 11 06 20 24.37 +51 22.4 1.605 2.020 99.4 29.0 14.5 2026 11 16 20 59.57 +44 15.2 1.582 1.989 98.7 29.4 14.4 2026 11 26 21 31.54 +36 47.5 1.601 1.965 95.9 30.0 14.4 2026 12 06 22 00.49 +29 32.8 1.660 1.948 91.2 30.4 14.4 2026 12 16 22 26.84 +22 58.8 1.756 1.940 85.2 30.4 14.5 2026 12 26 22 51.01 +17 19.9 1.881 1.938 78.4 29.8 14.7 2027 01 05 23 13.40 +12 38.4 2.025 1.945 71.2 28.6 14.8 2027 01 15 23 34.39 +08 49.3 2.181 1.960 63.9 26.8 15.0 2027 01 25 23 54.24 +05 44.4 2.342 1.982 56.8 24.6 15.2 NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2026 CBAT 2026 March 21 (CBET 5672) Daniel W. E. Green