THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 205 1988 Oct 04  20.07UT.
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.
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COMET MACHHOLZ (1988j)
M.Jager, Austria reports that a photo taken on Oct 3.76UT shows the
comet at approx mag 12, much fainter than predicted. O.C.St.Cyr,
High Altitude Observatory reports failure to detect it Sept 17.88-
18.83UT with the NASA Solar Maximum Mission Spacecraft to about
magnitude 4.
Does anyone else have any results?

1988 NF
N.James(MAG90713) provides further predictions:
Offsets from: Y Cas   R.A. = 00h 00m.8, Dec. +55 24' (1950)
   Date E.T.      R.A. (1950) Dec.     R       r    Elong star->ast
                  h  m       o  '     (AU)    (AU)     o     '   P.A.
1988 Oct   1.00  23 57.26  +58 35.0   0.607   1.432  124.1 193  352
1988 Oct   2.00  23 57.59  +58 22.0   0.606   1.434  124.6 180  352
1988 Oct   3.00  23 57.93  +58  8.0   0.604   1.436  125.1 165  352
1988 Oct   4.00  23 58.30  +57 53.1   0.603   1.438  125.7 150  352
1988 Oct   5.00  23 58.68  +57 37.3   0.602   1.440  126.2 134  353
1988 Oct   6.00  23 59.08  +57 20.4   0.601   1.442  126.8 117  353
1988 Oct   7.00  23 59.51  +57  2.6   0.600   1.444  127.3  99  354
1988 Oct   8.00  23 59.96  +56 43.9   0.599   1.446  127.9  80  355
1988 Oct   9.00   0  0.43  +56 24.3   0.598   1.448  128.4  60  357
1988 Oct  10.00   0  0.93  +56  3.7   0.597   1.450  129.0  40    2
1988 Oct  11.00   0  1.45  +55 42.2   0.596   1.453  129.6  19   17
1988 Oct  12.00   0  2.01  +55 19.8   0.596   1.455  130.1  11  112
1988 Oct  13.00   0  2.59  +54 56.5   0.595   1.457  130.7  32  150
1988 Oct  14.00   0  3.21  +54 32.4   0.595   1.460  131.2  56  158
1988 Oct  15.00   0  3.85  +54  7.4   0.595   1.462  131.8  81  161
1988 Oct  16.00   0  4.52  +53 41.6   0.594   1.465  132.3 108  162
1988 Oct  17.00   0  5.23  +53 15.0   0.594   1.467  132.9 135  163
Offsets from: SS Cas  R.A. = 00h 07m.0, Dec. +55 17'
   Date E.T.      R.A. (1950) Dec.     R       r    Elong star->ast
                  h  m       o  '     (AU)    (AU)     o     '   P.A.
1988 Oct  15.00   0  3.85  +54  7.4   0.595   1.462  131.8 172  351
1988 Oct  16.00   0  4.52  +53 41.6   0.594   1.465  132.3 146  351
1988 Oct  17.00   0  5.23  +53 15.0   0.594   1.467  132.9 119  352
1988 Oct  18.00   0  5.96  +52 47.6   0.594   1.470  133.4  91  354
1988 Oct  19.00   0  6.73  +52 19.4   0.595   1.472  133.9  62  358
1988 Oct  20.00   0  7.52  +51 50.6   0.595   1.475  134.5  34    8
1988 Oct  21.00   0  8.35  +51 21.0   0.595   1.478  135.0  13   74
1988 Oct  22.00   0  9.21  +50 50.8   0.596   1.480  135.5  34  142
1988 Oct  23.00   0 10.10  +50 19.9   0.597   1.483  135.9  65  153
1988 Oct  24.00   0 11.01  +49 48.4   0.598   1.486  136.4  97  156
1988 Oct  25.00   0 11.96  +49 16.3   0.599   1.489  136.9 130  158
1988 Oct  26.00   0 12.93  +48 43.7   0.600   1.491  137.3 164  159
1988 Oct  27.00   0 13.93  +48 10.6   0.601   1.494  137.7 199  160
1988 Oct  28.00   0 14.96  +47 37.0   0.603   1.497  138.1 235  160
1988 Oct  29.00   0 16.01  +47  3.0   0.605   1.500  138.4 270  160

COSMOS 1900
Frank Weissferdt(MAG36440) e-mails:
Peter Bluhm from northern Germany observed Cosmos 1900 in its
penultimate revolution passing over Denmark from WNW - ESE on
Saturday Oct.1.
20:36 UT. Magnitude was reported as 2 - 3, the optical appearance
was mostly steady.
According to ESOC Cosmos 1900 decayed one revolution later between
22:15 and 22:30 UT over East Africa or the Indian Ocean.
My own calculations with up to date elements showed that the
satellite deorbited somewhere between 18 deg.N / 20 deg. E and 36
deg. S / 46 deg. E.
The nuclear reactor was placed in an orbit 720 km above Earth on
Sep. 30, 21:00 UT.

1988 SM
Rob McNaught(07:GED001) e-mails that this is the designation for
the F.M.O. reported on E-204. It has been recovered at UKST but is
a mag 17 object. Elements can be supplied to anyone interested.

Guy M Hurst