THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 623 1992 April 2 20.25UT
Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke,
Hants, RG22 4PP,England. Telephone/FAX(0256)471074 Int:+44256471074
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COMET TANAKA-MACHHOLZ (1992d)
Following our request for confirmation issued earlier today the
following announcement by Brian Marsden has now appeared in IAUCs:
"On Mar. 31 D. Machholz reported his discovery of a probable comet,
the slight change detected during his 35-min visual observation
indicating a daily motion of up to perhaps 1 deg. This suggested
possible identity with a cometary object reported by Zenichi Tanaka
to the Japanese National Astronomical Observatory, this report
having been forwarded by S. Nakano to the Central Bureau on
Mar. 27; confusion arose because Tanaka's 4-min exposure was said
to indicate a daily motion of more than 4 deg (in p.a. 20 or 200
deg), although it now appears that Tanaka had first detected the
comet visually 25 min earlier and that there was no obvious motion.
A. Hale's Apr. 1 observation confirms the Machholz discovery, and a
parabolic perihelion orbit fitted to the approximate Mar. 31 and
Apr. 1 positions satisfies the Mar. 24 Tanaka position within 0.6
deg."
1992 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer
Mar. 24.823 21 54.8 +12 55 10 Tanaka
31.505 22 09.5 +18 43 9.4 Machholz
Apr. 1.473 22 11.4 +19 33 9.6 Hale
Z. Tanaka (Yodoe, Tottori). 0.2-m reflector. Very faint,
unmeasurable image on exposure in twilight. Coma diameter 2'.
D. Machholz (Colfax, CA). 0.12-m refractor. Object diffuse with
some condensation, no tail. Coma diameter 2'.
A. Hale (Las Cruces, NM). 0.41-m reflector. Diffuse, somewhat
condensed.
IAUC 5487
S. Nakano, Sumoto, Japan, communicates the following precise
measurements by T. Seki, Geisei. The Mar. 24 measurement is from
the photograph taken by Z. Tanaka at Yodoe, Tottori (cf. IAUC
5487).
1992 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1
Mar. 24.84234 21 54 50.0 +12 57 34 10
Apr. 1.82409 22 12 18.76 +19 49 07.3 9
IAUC 5488
Guy M Hurst