THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 196 1988 Sep 03 10.54UT. Telecom Gold 72:MAG60138 Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16, Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP, England. Telephone:(0256)471074.Int:+44256471074 Telex:265871(MONREF G) Quote"72:MAG60138 ATT G.HURST"in FIRST line. ------------------------------------------------------------------- VY AQUARII Gold system problems prevented the reading of a message from Rob McNaught which advised that A.Pearce in Australia had detected this outburst earlier than J.Isles. Selected estimates: Aug 31.573, 13.3 (Pearce); 31.583, 13.2 (Pearce); 31.595, 12.9 (Pearce); 31.619, 12.5 (Pearce); Sept 1.024, 10.6 (Schmeer); 1.569, 10.2 (Pearce); 2.55, 10.5 (McNaught); 2.885, 10.0 (S.Korth, Germany). NOVA OPH 1988 Rob McNaught e-mails: Further visual estimates: Aug 29.38, 11.6 (P.Williams, NSW); 30.53, 11.3 (Williams); 31.53, 11.4 (Pearce) P/SCHWASSMANN-WACHMANN 1 Rob McNaught provides details of a recent outburst of this comet: Aug 19.65UT: Coma/fan tail to NE. Dia across tips to fan = 38" (42" on 20.71) 'Dia' of coma+tail = 31" (29" on 20.71) Central condensation = 15.5(same 20.71) situated about 25% from coma edge to tail end. Edge of fan pa 110 brightest. R CRB Recent selected estimates: Aug 27.85, 10.3 (K.G.Andersson, Sweden) 29.94, 10.4 (Margareta Westlund, Uppsala) 30.92, 10.8 (Westlund); 31.92, 11.0 (Westlund) Sept 2.867,10.9 (Schmeer) E-INDEX John Hosty advises that he is no longer available on MAG31683. COMET 1988l (SMM 3) O.C.St.Cyr, Solar Maximum Mission, reports his discovery of another probable sungrazing comet with the SMM corongraph: 1988 June 27.63958 RA 06h19m48s DEC +22 46.2' (1950) 27.72222 06 21 34 +23 13.2 The object, of estimated mag -1, was not detected receding from the sun. Marsden suggests that it is a member of Kreutz group with elements: T=1988 June27.78UT, Peri=84.5; Node=5.5; Incl=144.5 (1950), q=0.0053AU. IAUC 4648 Guy M Hurst