THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 672 1992 Oct 4 08.48UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England. Telephone/FAX(0256)471074 Int:+44256471074 TELEX: 9312111261 Answerback: TA G TELECOM GOLD: 10074:MIK2885 GMH at UK.AC.RUTHERFORD.STARLINK.ASTROPHYSICS STARLINK: RLSAC::GMH GMH at UK.AC.CAM.ASTRONOMY.STARLINK STARLINK: CAVAD::GMH ------------------------------------------------------------------- PERIODIC COMET CIFFREO (1992s) J. V. Scotti, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, reports his recovery of this comet with the Spacewatch telescope at Kitt Peak. On the first night there was a coma 15" across and a tail 0'.36 long in p.a. 261 deg (m2 = 20.6). 1992 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Sept.24.27955 23 47 39.92 -24 51 11.0 24.29928 23 47 38.76 -24 51 11.4 24.32086 23 47 37.49 -24 51 11.0 18.0 25.24211 23 46 46.17 -24 50 57.5 18.1 25.25011 23 46 45.68 -24 50 57.6 25.25872 23 46 45.18 -24 50 56.8 The following improved orbital elements, by B. G. Marsden, Center for Astrophysics, satisfy 62 observations 1985-1992 with mean residual 0".9: Epoch = 1993 Jan. 13.0 TT T = 1993 Jan. 23.0649 TT Peri. = 358.0335 e = 0.543173 Node = 53.7092 2000.0 q = 1.708765 AU Incl. = 13.0894 a = 3.740509 AU n = 0.1362411 P = 7.234 years 1992/93 R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase m1 Sept.25 23 47.00 -24 50.9 1.100 2.048 153.7 12.5 17.8 Oct. 5 23 38.05 -24 28.0 1.088 2.000 146.6 16.0 17.7 15 23 30.86 -23 25.0 1.095 1.954 138.1 19.9 17.6 25 23 26.60 -21 44.7 1.118 1.912 129.5 23.6 17.6 IAUC 5618 SUPERNOVA 1992ay IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY J. Maza, University of Chile; and M. Hamuy, Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, report the discovery by R. Antezana (University of Chile) of an apparent supernova located in a system of two anonymous galaxies (R.A. = 4h28m50s.2, Decl. = -46 30'32", (1950). Its position is 6" east and 6" north of the southernmost galaxy. The supernova, of mpg about 18.5, was found on a 20-min unfiltered IIa-O plate taken by C. Muena (CTIO) with the CTIO Curtis Schmidt telescope on Sept. 20.323 UT. Confirmation was made by X. Guo (Yale University) on CCD B and V images obtained on Sept. 25.403 with the CTIO 0.9-m telescope. IAUC 5619 PERIODIC COMET BREWINGTON (1992p) Herman Mikuz, Slovenia reports m1=13.2 on 1992 Sept 26.14UT. On communicating late-September observations, S. Nakano, Sumoto, Japan, remarks that the comet is evidently of short period. The following improved orbital elements have been determined by Brian Marsden from 18 observations Aug. 28-Sept. 26: T = 1992 June 4.050 TT Peri. = 45.223 e = 0.62962 Node = 342.919 2000.0 q = 1.56038 AU Incl. = 18.096 a = 4.21290 AU n = 0.113981 P = 8.65 years 1992 TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase m1 Sept.25 8 21.93 +35 20.5 2.185 1.963 63.9 27.3 13.6 Oct. 5 8 42.17 +34 37.5 2.150 2.024 69.2 27.5 13.7 15 8 59.83 +33 56.3 2.109 2.087 75.0 27.5 13.8 25 9 14.81 +33 20.6 2.062 2.151 81.4 27.2 13.9 Nov. 4 9 26.95 +32 53.6 2.010 2.217 88.4 26.6 14.0 14 9 36.07 +32 37.5 1.955 2.283 96.1 25.5 14.0 IAUC 5622 Guy M Hurst