------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 882 1994 Sept 7 20.24UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PERIODIC COMET MACHHOLZ 2 (1994o) Independent reports of a third diffuse object moving with the same motion as comet 1994o have been received from Petr Pravec (Ondrejov, 0.65-m reflector) and Wayne Johnson (Anza, CA, 0.56-m reflector) on CCD images obtained Sept. 2.11 and 3.51 UT, respectively. Pravec noted a 1'.0 coma with little condensation, the third companion being located about 43" southwest of the second object reported by Jaeger (IAUC 6066); Johnson noted this third component as being about 1 mag fainter than the second. IAUC 6070 P. Pravec, Ondrejov, reports his discovery of fourth and fifth components to this comet on CCD images obtained with the 0.65-m reflector on Sept. 4.1 UT. The fourth component -- also independently reported by W. Johnson (Anza, CA), by T. Puckett, J. Armstrong, and M. Marcus (Atlanta, GA), and by M. Jager (Vienna, Austria) -- was then similar in brightness to the third component, about a magnitude fainter than the second component sporting a 2'.0 coma with little condensation, and located some 320" north-northeast of the primary component. The fifth fragment (also evidently found by Jager on his films) was nearly 1 mag fainter than the fourth component, consisted of a 1'-2' diffuse coma and little or no condensation, and was located 307" north-northeast of the second component. IAUC 6071 V795 CYGNI Patrick Schmeer, Germany e-mails that he has detected an outburst of this eruptive variable and various observers have confirmed the event: 1994 Aug 23.924UT, [15.4 Gary Poyner, Birmingham, UK. 0.40-m refl. 24.860UT, [13.7 Schmeer 0.20-m SC 26.929UT, 12.9 Schmeer 26.981UT, 13.4 Tonny Vanmunster, Belgium. 0.35-m refl. 27.500UT,V=12.8 Taichi Kato, Ouda, Japan. CCD. 0.60-m. 27.866UT, 12.8 Poyner The last recorded outburst was on 1993 Nov 3 at mv=13.1. Guy M Hurst