------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1061 1996 Mar 20 19.05UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTEROIDS Stephen Laurie, Church Stretton, UK reports his discovery of four further asteroids as follows: 1995 YM2 1995 Dec 24 mag 16.6V MPC 26373 1995 YE3 1995 Dec 26 mag 17.3V MPC 26373 1966 DQ1 1996 Feb 20 mag 17.7V MPC 26723 1996 DR1 1996 Feb 20 mag 17.5V MPC 26723 This brings the total found to 26 by this observer (c/f E1027). COMET C/1996 B2 (HYAKUTAKE) Revised orbital elements : M.P.E.C. 1996-F03 Epoch 1996 Apr. 27.0 TT = JDT 2450200.5 T 1996 May 1.39602 TT Marsden q 0.2300668 (2000.0) P Q z +0.0012788 Peri. 130.20416 +0.57800074 +0.80792903 +/-0.0000578 Node 188.04347 +0.23083551 -0.02701050 e 0.9997058 Incl. 124.91204 +0.78270691 -0.58866044 >From 371 observations 1996 Jan. 1-Mar. 18, mean residual 0".61. The following special ephemeris is provided to track the movement of the comet during its close approach to the Earth. Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase m1 1996 03 20 14 53.38 -00 20.8 0.203 1.151 136.4 36.6 2.6 1996 03 21 14 52.25 +05 06.4 0.175 1.131 137.3 36.7 2.2 1996 03 22 14 50.57 +12 31.7 0.149 1.110 137.2 37.6 1.8 1996 03 23 14 47.97 +22 46.3 0.127 1.090 134.7 40.5 1.4 1996 03 23.2 14 47.28 +25 14.3 0.123 1.086 133.8 41.5 1.3 1996 03 23.4 14 46.51 +27 51.6 0.119 1.082 132.8 42.6 1.2 1996 03 23.6 14 45.65 +30 38.2 0.116 1.077 131.5 43.9 1.1 1996 03 23.8 14 44.68 +33 34.2 0.113 1.073 130.0 45.3 1.1 1996 03 24.0 14 43.58 +36 39.2 0.110 1.069 128.4 47.0 1.0 1996 03 24.2 14 42.33 +39 53.1 0.108 1.065 126.5 48.8 0.9 1996 03 24.4 14 40.89 +43 14.9 0.106 1.061 124.5 50.8 0.9 1996 03 24.6 14 39.22 +46 43.7 0.104 1.057 122.2 53.0 0.8 1996 03 24.8 14 37.25 +50 18.2 0.103 1.052 119.9 55.3 0.8 1996 03 25.0 14 34.91 +53 56.9 0.102 1.048 117.3 57.7 0.8 1996 03 25.2 14 32.08 +57 38.2 0.102 1.044 114.7 60.3 0.7 1996 03 25.4 14 28.59 +61 19.9 0.102 1.040 111.9 62.9 0.7 1996 03 25.6 14 24.19 +65 00.2 0.102 1.036 109.1 65.5 0.7 1996 03 25.8 14 18.46 +68 37.0 0.103 1.031 106.3 68.1 0.7 1996 03 26.0 14 10.7 +72 08.3 0.104 1.027 103.6 70.8 0.7 1996 03 26.2 13 59.7 +75 32.2 0.106 1.023 100.8 73.3 0.7 1996 03 26.4 13 43.0 +78 46.2 0.108 1.019 98.1 75.8 0.7 1996 03 26.6 13 15.0 +81 46.5 0.110 1.014 95.5 78.3 0.8 1996 03 26.8 12 21.1 +84 24.7 0.113 1.010 93.0 80.6 0.8 1996 03 27.0 10 26 +86 14.3 0.116 1.006 90.6 82.7 0.9 1996 03 27.2 07 31 +86 17.7 0.120 1.002 88.3 84.8 0.9 1996 03 27.4 05 39.8 +84 46.0 0.123 0.997 86.2 86.8 0.9 1996 03 27.6 04 47.7 +82 44.5 0.127 0.993 84.1 88.6 1.0 1996 03 27.8 04 20.4 +80 38.8 0.131 0.989 82.2 90.3 1.0 1996 03 28 04 04.1 +78 36.2 0.135 0.985 80.3 91.9 1.1 1996 03 29 03 32.11 +69 52.0 0.159 0.963 72.6 98.3 1.3 1996 03 30 03 21.78 +63 23.9 0.185 0.941 66.8 102.7 1.6 1996 03 31 03 16.63 +58 33.6 0.214 0.919 62.3 105.8 1.8 Guy M Hurst