------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1035 1996 Jan 17 13.00UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England. phone/FAX(01256)471074 Int:+441256471074 INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.demon.co.uk/astronomer ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET C/1996 A1 (Jedicke) J. V. Scotti, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, notes that on Jan. 15.28 there was a tail 4'.74 long in p.a. 293 deg; the comet's nuclear magnitude was 20.3. IAUC6288 IAUC 6288 announces the following preliminary parabolic elements for this comet. The elements were derived from 15 observations from Jan 14-16. The following ephemeris should be used in preference to the one derived by the undersigned and published on E1034. The comet is coming in towards the Sun and these elements indicate that it will be at a declination of -27deg at perihelion. T 1997 Apr 17.7580 TT w 324.87800 ) e 1.00000000 O 264.41000 ) 2000.0 q 2.4687200 A.U. i 8.10900 ) Source: IAUC6288 Positions are geocentric Date R.A. (2000) Dec. R r Elong Mag. Motion h m o ' (AU) (AU) o "/hr P.A. 1996 Jan 18.00 9 22.70 +7 11.1 4.264 5.174 155.3 16.8 17 276 18.20 9 22.61 +7 11.3 4.261 5.173 155.5 16.8 17 276 18.40 9 22.52 +7 11.4 4.259 5.171 155.7 16.8 17 276 18.60 9 22.43 +7 11.6 4.256 5.170 155.9 16.8 17 276 18.80 9 22.34 +7 11.7 4.253 5.168 156.1 16.8 17 276 19.00 9 22.25 +7 11.9 4.250 5.166 156.3 16.8 17 277 19.20 9 22.16 +7 12.0 4.248 5.165 156.5 16.8 17 277 19.40 9 22.07 +7 12.2 4.245 5.163 156.7 16.8 17 277 19.60 9 21.98 +7 12.3 4.242 5.162 157.0 16.8 17 277 19.80 9 21.89 +7 12.5 4.239 5.160 157.2 16.8 17 277 20.00 9 21.80 +7 12.7 4.237 5.159 157.4 16.8 17 277 20.20 9 21.70 +7 12.8 4.234 5.157 157.6 16.8 17 277 20.40 9 21.61 +7 13.0 4.231 5.156 157.8 16.8 17 277 20.60 9 21.52 +7 13.2 4.229 5.154 158.0 16.8 17 277 20.80 9 21.42 +7 13.4 4.226 5.153 158.2 16.8 18 277 21.00 9 21.33 +7 13.5 4.223 5.151 158.4 16.7 18 277 21.20 9 21.24 +7 13.7 4.221 5.149 158.6 16.7 18 277 21.40 9 21.14 +7 13.9 4.218 5.148 158.8 16.7 18 277 21.60 9 21.05 +7 14.1 4.215 5.146 159.1 16.7 18 278 21.80 9 20.95 +7 14.3 4.213 5.145 159.3 16.7 18 278 22.00 9 20.86 +7 14.5 4.210 5.143 159.5 16.7 18 278 22.20 9 20.76 +7 14.7 4.207 5.142 159.7 16.7 18 278 22.40 9 20.67 +7 14.9 4.205 5.140 159.9 16.7 18 278 22.60 9 20.57 +7 15.1 4.202 5.139 160.1 16.7 18 278 22.80 9 20.47 +7 15.3 4.200 5.137 160.3 16.7 18 278 23.00 9 20.38 +7 15.5 4.197 5.136 160.5 16.7 18 278 23.20 9 20.28 +7 15.7 4.195 5.134 160.7 16.7 18 278 23.40 9 20.18 +7 15.9 4.192 5.132 160.9 16.7 18 278 23.60 9 20.09 +7 16.1 4.190 5.131 161.1 16.7 18 278 23.80 9 19.99 +7 16.3 4.187 5.129 161.3 16.7 18 278 24.00 9 19.89 +7 16.5 4.185 5.128 161.5 16.7 18 278 24.20 9 19.79 +7 16.7 4.182 5.126 161.7 16.7 18 278 24.40 9 19.69 +7 16.9 4.180 5.125 161.9 16.7 19 279 24.60 9 19.59 +7 17.2 4.177 5.123 162.1 16.7 19 279 24.80 9 19.49 +7 17.4 4.175 5.122 162.3 16.7 19 279 25.00 9 19.40 +7 17.6 4.172 5.120 162.5 16.7 19 279 25.20 9 19.30 +7 17.8 4.170 5.119 162.7 16.7 19 279 25.40 9 19.20 +7 18.1 4.168 5.117 162.9 16.7 19 279 25.60 9 19.10 +7 18.3 4.165 5.115 163.1 16.7 19 279 25.80 9 19.00 +7 18.5 4.163 5.114 163.3 16.7 19 279 Nick James