THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 540 1991 July 13 16.24UT
Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke,
Hants, RG22 4PP, England. Telephone: (0256)471074 Int:+44256471074
Telex: 9312111261 Answerback: TA G JANET BOXES:
GMH at UK.AC.CAM.ASTRONOMY.STARLINK or GUYH at UK.AC.SUSSEX.CLUSTER
TELECOM GOLD: 10074:MIK2885 PRESTEL 256471074
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PERIODIC COMET MACHHOLZ (1986 VIII)
Further to the note on E537, this comet has now been observed by
A.C.Gilmore and P.M.Kilmartin July 3-5 with the 0.6-m reflector
at Mount John University Observatory. The comet's m2 magnitude
appears to have risen from 16 on July 3.7UT to 14 on July 5.7.
Brian G.Marsden has computed the following elements based on 93
observations 1986-1991:
Epoch = 1991 July 3.0 ET
T = 1991 July 21.9824 ET Peri. = 14.5287
e = 0.958370 Node = 93.8227 1950.0
q = 0.125545 AU Incl. = 60.1472
a = 3.015711 AU n = 0.1881999 P = 5.237 years
IAUC 5301
Revised ephemeris by Hurst using a program by N.James:
m = 13.0 + 5.0 log R + 12.0 log r
Date R.A. (1950) Dec. R r Elong Mag. Motion
h m o ' (AU) (AU) o "/hr P.A.
1991 July
13.00 6 34.88 +3 55.1 0.992 0.380 21.7 7.9 361 46
14.00 6 41.86 +5 37.0 1.007 0.348 19.8 7.5 367 45
15.00 6 48.95 +7 21.7 1.024 0.316 17.8 7.1 376 45
16.00 6 56.22 +9 10.3 1.042 0.284 15.8 6.5 389 45
17.00 7 3.78 +11 3.6 1.060 0.251 13.6 5.9 406 45
18.00 7 11.79 +13 3.0 1.080 0.217 11.4 5.2 431 45
19.00 7 20.50 +15 10.4 1.100 0.185 9.0 4.4 465 45
20.00 7 30.25 +17 27.0 1.118 0.156 6.4 3.6 511 46
21.00 7 41.54 +19 51.8 1.131 0.134 3.7 2.8 563 49
22.00 7 54.62 +22 16.2 1.134 0.126 2.3 2.5 593 54
23.00 8 9.03 +24 23.5 1.126 0.134 4.2 2.8 580 60
24.00 8 23.84 +26 2.9 1.108 0.157 6.8 3.6 543 67
25.00 8 38.47 +27 15.2 1.087 0.186 9.4 4.4 507 72
26.00 8 52.80 +28 5.9 1.065 0.218 11.7 5.2 482 77
27.00 9 6.86 +28 39.8 1.045 0.251 13.9 5.9 464 82
28.00 9 20.69 +28 60.0 1.026 0.284 16.0 6.5 452 85
29.00 9 34.32 +29 8.8 1.009 0.317 18.0 7.0 444 89
30.00 9 47.77 +29 7.7 0.993 0.349 20.0 7.5 438 92
31.00 10 1.02 +28 57.8 0.980 0.380 21.9 7.9 433 94
1991 Aug
1.00 10 14.07 +28 40.1 0.969 0.411 23.8 8.3 429 97
2.00 10 26.89 +28 15.3 0.960 0.441 25.6 8.6 425 99
3.00 10 39.45 +27 44.1 0.953 0.470 27.4 9.0 422 102
4.00 10 51.73 +27 7.1 0.948 0.498 29.2 9.3 417 104
5.00 11 3.71 +26 25.0 0.944 0.526 30.9 9.5 412 106
6.00 11 15.36 +25 38.5 0.942 0.554 32.6 9.8 407 107
7.00 11 26.65 +24 48.0 0.942 0.581 34.3 10.0 401 109
8.00 11 37.59 +23 54.3 0.944 0.607 35.9 10.3 394 110
9.00 11 48.15 +22 57.9 0.947 0.633 37.4 10.5 387 112
10.00 11 58.34 +21 59.3 0.952 0.658 39.0 10.7 379 113
11.00 12 8.15 +20 59.1 0.958 0.683 40.4 10.9 370 114
12.00 12 17.58 +19 57.7 0.966 0.708 41.8 11.1 361 115
WX CETI
Albert Jones, Nelson, Nez Zealand reports an outburst of this
SU UMa-type dwarf nova on July 8.78UT at mag 12.2. This star,
formerly designated as Nova Ceti 1963, is located at:
RA 01h14.6m DEC -18 12'(1950)
Patrick Schmeer advises us that observations by Taichi Kato in
Japan indicate the current outburst is a supermaximum.
Guy M Hurst