------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 982 1995 Aug 5 17.31UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England. Telephone/FAX(0256)471074 Int:+44256471074 INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.demon.co.uk/astronomer ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET C/1995 O1 (HALE-BOPP) P.Riepe et.al., Namibia reports pre-discovery images on exposures on Scotch-Chrome 400 using 135mm telephoto lens: 1995 July 17.89UT, 11.5 +/-0.5; 18.92, 11.5 +/-0.5. Recent estimates: 1995 July 31.09UT, 10.4 (John Bortle, NY, USA, 0.41-m refl.); Aug 1.11, 10.3 (Bortle); 2.18, 10.8 (A.Hale, NM, USA, 0.41-m refl. Updated ephemeris (cf E976) using elements on E979: Date R.A. (2000) Dec. R r Elong Mag. Motion h m o ' (AU) (AU) o "/hr P.A. 1995 Aug 5.00 18 35.37 -31 47.6 6.195 7.046 144.5 10.9 21 284 6.00 18 34.74 -31 45.5 6.197 7.037 143.4 10.9 21 285 7.00 18 34.11 -31 43.4 6.198 7.029 142.4 10.9 21 285 8.00 18 33.49 -31 41.2 6.200 7.020 141.3 10.9 20 285 9.00 18 32.87 -31 39.1 6.202 7.012 140.3 10.9 20 286 10.00 18 32.27 -31 36.9 6.204 7.003 139.2 10.9 20 286 11.00 18 31.68 -31 34.6 6.207 6.995 138.2 10.9 20 287 12.00 18 31.09 -31 32.4 6.209 6.986 137.1 10.9 19 287 13.00 18 30.51 -31 30.0 6.212 6.978 136.1 10.9 19 288 14.00 18 29.95 -31 27.7 6.216 6.969 135.0 10.9 19 288 15.00 18 29.39 -31 25.4 6.219 6.961 134.0 10.9 19 289 16.00 18 28.84 -31 23.0 6.223 6.952 132.9 10.9 18 289 17.00 18 28.30 -31 20.6 6.227 6.944 131.9 10.9 18 290 18.00 18 27.78 -31 18.1 6.231 6.935 130.8 10.9 18 290 19.00 18 27.26 -31 15.6 6.235 6.927 129.8 10.9 18 291 20.00 18 26.75 -31 13.2 6.240 6.918 128.7 10.9 17 291 21.00 18 26.26 -31 10.6 6.244 6.910 127.7 10.9 17 292 22.00 18 25.77 -31 8.1 6.249 6.901 126.6 10.9 17 292 23.00 18 25.30 -31 5.5 6.254 6.892 125.6 10.9 16 293 24.00 18 24.84 -31 3.0 6.260 6.884 124.6 10.9 16 294 25.00 18 24.38 -31 0.4 6.265 6.875 123.5 10.9 16 294 26.00 18 23.94 -30 57.8 6.271 6.867 122.5 10.9 15 295 27.00 18 23.52 -30 55.1 6.277 6.858 121.4 10.9 15 296 28.00 18 23.10 -30 52.5 6.283 6.850 120.4 10.8 15 297 29.00 18 22.69 -30 49.8 6.289 6.841 119.4 10.8 15 297 30.00 18 22.30 -30 47.1 6.295 6.832 118.3 10.8 14 298 31.00 18 21.92 -30 44.4 6.302 6.824 117.3 10.8 14 299 COMET P/1995 O2 (MUELLER 1) J. V. Scotti, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, reports his recovery of comet P/1987 U2 (= 1987 XXXI = 1987a1) with the 0.9-m Spacewatch telescope at Kitt Peak. The comet's image is very faint and very slightly diffuse, near the limit. The indicated correction (ignoring perturbations) to the prediction by S. Nakano on MPC 22030 is Delta T = -0.75 day. 1995 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 July 30.43941 23 14 25.45 -11 43 36.0 22.2 30.45900 23 14 25.07 -11 43 36.8 21.9 30.46644 23 14 25.01 -11 43 37.8 22.5 Aug. 1.42770 23 13 50.27 -11 45 55.9 21.9 1.44590 23 13 49.91 -11 45 58.0 1.46213 23 13 49.57 -11 45 57.6 IAUC 6199 Guy M Hurst