------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 829 1994 Apr 15 21.04UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England. Telephone/FAX(0256)471074 Int:+44256471074 INTERNET: GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK or GMH at GXVG.AST.CAM.AC.UK ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY (1994d) On Mar. 23 C. S. Shoemaker reported her discovery of a comet on Palomar 0.46-m Schmidt films taken by D. H. Levy, D. Williams and herself on Mar. 14. The images were significantly trailed on the 10-min exposures. The coma was slightly asymmetric toward the southeast, and there was a moderately strong condensation. After several unsuccessful attempts using search ephemerides by the undersigned, Shoemaker, Levy and H. E. Holt have recovered the comet, which is now only slightly condensed with a short tail to the northeast. Measurers B. A. Skiff (Mar. 14) and J. Mueller (Apr. 3). 1994 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Mar. 14.35173 10 54 10.67 - 8 23 54.2 13.0 14.39496 10 53 50.21 - 8 19 01.2 Apr. 3.15121 8 22 55.71 +27 03 28.0 14.2 3.18055 8 22 44.90 +27 05 30.3 Parabolic orbital elements by the undersigned: T = 1994 May 27.295 TT Peri. = 57.296 Node = 166.559 2000.0 q = 1.16089 AU Incl. = 131.302 Ephemeris by G.Hurst using EPH.EXE by N.James: T 1994 May 27.2950 TT w 57.29600 ) e 1.00000000 O 166.55900 ) 2000.0 q 1.1608900 A.U. i 131.30200 ) Source: IAUC 5962 Positions are geocentric m = 13.0 + 5.0 log R + 10.0 log r Date R.A. (2000) Dec. R r Elong Mag. Motion h m o ' (AU) (AU) o "/hr P.A. 1994 Apr 14.00 7 29.47 +35 58.0 0.995 1.346 84.8 14.3 145 306 16.00 7 22.06 +37 1.8 1.040 1.331 81.3 14.3 130 305 18.00 7 15.27 +37 58.5 1.086 1.316 77.9 14.4 117 305 20.00 7 9.05 +38 49.1 1.132 1.302 74.8 14.4 106 305 22.00 7 3.34 +39 34.7 1.178 1.288 71.8 14.5 96 304 24.00 6 58.08 +40 15.8 1.224 1.275 69.0 14.5 87 304 26.00 6 53.24 +40 53.3 1.269 1.262 66.2 14.5 80 304 28.00 6 48.78 +41 27.6 1.314 1.250 63.6 14.6 73 304 30.00 6 44.64 +41 59.1 1.358 1.239 61.1 14.6 67 304 PERIODIC COMET RUSSELL 2 (1994e) J. V. Scotti, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, reports his recovery of this comet with the Spacewatch reflector at Kitt Peak. The following positions are in close agreement with the prediction on MPC 18259 (ephemeris on MPC 23142): 1994 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Apr. 5.47858 16 16 33.67 -23 25 05.1 21.1 5.48701 16 16 33.69 -23 25 07.4 21.3 5.49579 16 16 33.70 -23 25 11.3 21.3 6.48003 16 16 37.55 -23 30 16.2 21.2 6.48800 16 16 37.61 -23 30 18.4 21.5 6.49628 16 16 37.54 -23 30 21.3 22.0 IAUC 5967 COMET TAKAMIZAWA-LEVY (1994f) Kesao Takamizawa and David H. Levy report their discoveries of what appears to be the same comet, as follows: 1994 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer Apr. 14.756 21 24.0 + 4 48 12.5 Takamizawa 15.4 21 23.0 + 5 45 10.5 Levy K. Takamizawa (Saku-cho, Minami-Saku-gun, Nagano-ken, Japan). D. H. Levy (Tucson, AZ). Visual observation with 0.41-m reflector. IAUC 5974 Guy M Hurst --- 00043 --- Date: Fri, 15 Apr 94 18:03:04 -0400