------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 986 1995 Aug 19 13.01UT 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 41P/TUTTLE-GIACOBINI-KRESAK S. Nakano, Sumoto, Japan, has forwarded observations by H. Abe (Yatsuka, Japan, 0.26-m reflector + CCD), showing that this comet is in outburst, at m1 = 9.0 on Aug. 18.458 UT. These observations, made at the request of the Central Bureau, confirmed that the sighting on Aug. 17.04 by L. Shotter, Uniontown, PA, of a possible bright comet close to the predicted location of 41P was indeed that comet. Shotter estimated m1 about 8 (0.15-m refractor; coma diameter about 3'.5 with slight condensation). This comet also experienced two large outbursts in 1973 (cf. IAUC 2541, et seq.). IAUC 6207 Editor: The 1973 outburst mentioned above was featured in 'The Astronomer' Vol 10 No 111 p59 [1973]. On 1973 June 3.11UT John Bortle estimated it at mag 10.2 in 0.15-m refl. Subsequently F.Seiler, Munich reported an independent detection of the outburst and from these photos John Bortle reduced magnitudes of: 1973 May 24.92UT, 4.8; 31.92, 5.6. The following ephemeris by G.Hurst was computed using EPH.EXE by Nick James. The magnitude predictions ignore further brightenings due to outbursts: T 1995 July 28.7136 TT w 61.67413 ) e 0.65638270 O 141.48995 ) 2000.0 q 1.0653210 A.U. i 9.22544 ) Source: MPEC 1995-CO9 Positions are geocentric m = 10.0 + 5.0 log R + 40.0 log r Date R.A. (2000) Dec. R r Elong Mag. Motion h m o ' (AU) (AU) o "/hr P.A. 1995 Aug 19.00 12 39.92 +2 34.3 1.603 1.103 42.9 12.7 166 112 20.00 12 44.02 +2 9.5 1.604 1.107 43.1 12.8 166 112 21.00 12 48.12 +1 44.7 1.605 1.110 43.2 12.8 166 112 22.00 12 52.22 +1 19.9 1.607 1.114 43.4 12.9 166 112 23.00 12 56.31 +0 55.1 1.608 1.118 43.5 13.0 166 112 24.00 13 0.40 +0 30.3 1.610 1.122 43.6 13.0 165 112 25.00 13 4.49 +0 5.5 1.612 1.126 43.8 13.1 165 112 26.00 13 8.57 -0 19.3 1.615 1.131 43.9 13.2 165 112 27.00 13 12.65 -0 44.0 1.617 1.135 44.1 13.2 165 112 28.00 13 16.73 -1 8.7 1.620 1.140 44.2 13.3 165 112 29.00 13 20.80 -1 33.2 1.623 1.145 44.4 13.4 164 112 30.00 13 24.87 -1 57.7 1.626 1.149 44.5 13.5 164 112 31.00 13 28.93 -2 22.1 1.630 1.154 44.6 13.6 164 112 1995 Sept 1.00 13 32.98 -2 46.4 1.633 1.159 44.7 13.6 163 112 2.00 13 37.03 -3 10.6 1.637 1.165 44.9 13.7 163 112 3.00 13 41.07 -3 34.6 1.641 1.170 45.0 13.8 163 112 4.00 13 45.11 -3 58.4 1.645 1.175 45.1 13.9 162 112 5.00 13 49.14 -4 22.2 1.650 1.181 45.2 14.0 162 111 6.00 13 53.16 -4 45.7 1.654 1.187 45.3 14.1 161 111 7.00 13 57.17 -5 9.1 1.659 1.192 45.4 14.2 161 111 8.00 14 1.17 -5 32.2 1.664 1.198 45.5 14.2 160 111 9.00 14 5.17 -5 55.2 1.669 1.204 45.6 14.3 160 111 10.00 14 9.16 -6 18.0 1.675 1.210 45.7 14.4 159 111 Guy M Hurst