------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1101 1996 July 24 21.10UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+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 E1 (NEAT) Recent observations below indicate this comet may be much brighter than originally predicted: July 19.95UT, 10.2 (K.Hornoch, Czech Republic, 0.35-m refl.); 21.97, 11.5 (R.Bouma, The Netherlands, 0.25-m refl.) [IAUC 6437]. Updated elements: T 1996 July 27.3498 TT w 81.10912 ) e 1.00000000 O 149.84253 ) 2000.0 q 1.3589560 A.U. i 114.47834 ) Source: MPC 27287 Positions are geocentric The following ephemeris by G.Hurst using EPH.EXE by N.James adopts the original magnitude formula shown below. However we appeal for further observations of this possible brightening/ outburst: m = 12.0 + 5.0 log R + 10.0 log r Date R.A. (2000) Dec. R r Elong Mag. Motion h m o ' (AU) (AU) o "/hr P.A. 1996 July 24.00 7 57.30 +59 20.2 1.978 1.360 39.6 14.8 61 21 25.00 7 58.47 +59 43.1 1.966 1.359 40.3 14.8 62 21 26.00 7 59.69 +60 6.4 1.953 1.359 40.9 14.8 63 21 27.00 8 0.95 +60 30.1 1.940 1.359 41.6 14.8 64 21 28.00 8 2.25 +60 54.4 1.927 1.359 42.2 14.8 66 22 29.00 8 3.60 +61 19.1 1.913 1.359 42.9 14.7 67 22 30.00 8 5.00 +61 44.3 1.900 1.360 43.7 14.7 68 22 31.00 8 6.46 +62 10.1 1.886 1.360 44.4 14.7 70 22 1996 Aug 1.00 8 7.97 +62 36.3 1.872 1.361 45.1 14.7 71 22 2.00 8 9.54 +63 3.2 1.857 1.362 45.9 14.7 73 22 3.00 8 11.19 +63 30.6 1.843 1.362 46.6 14.7 75 22 4.00 8 12.90 +63 58.5 1.828 1.364 47.4 14.7 76 22 5.00 8 14.70 +64 27.1 1.813 1.365 48.2 14.6 78 22 6.00 8 16.58 +64 56.3 1.798 1.366 49.0 14.6 80 22 7.00 8 18.56 +65 26.2 1.783 1.368 49.8 14.6 82 23 8.00 8 20.63 +65 56.7 1.767 1.370 50.6 14.6 84 23 9.00 8 22.82 +66 27.9 1.752 1.372 51.4 14.6 86 23 10.00 8 25.13 +66 59.8 1.736 1.374 52.3 14.6 88 23 11.00 8 27.58 +67 32.4 1.720 1.376 53.1 14.6 90 24 12.00 8 30.18 +68 5.7 1.704 1.378 54.0 14.6 92 24 13.00 8 32.94 +68 39.8 1.688 1.381 54.8 14.5 94 24 14.00 8 35.88 +69 14.6 1.672 1.384 55.7 14.5 97 25 15.00 8 39.04 +69 50.2 1.656 1.386 56.6 14.5 99 25 16.00 8 42.42 +70 26.5 1.640 1.389 57.5 14.5 102 26 17.00 8 46.07 +71 3.7 1.623 1.393 58.4 14.5 104 26 18.00 8 50.02 +71 41.6 1.607 1.396 59.3 14.5 107 27 19.00 8 54.30 +72 20.2 1.591 1.399 60.3 14.5 110 27 20.00 8 58.98 +72 59.7 1.574 1.403 61.2 14.5 113 28 21.00 9 4.10 +73 39.8 1.558 1.406 62.1 14.4 116 29 22.00 9 9.75 +74 20.6 1.542 1.410 63.1 14.4 119 30 Guy M Hurst