------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1121 1996 Aug 31 15.00UT 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 Q1 (TABUR) Improved orbital elements: T 1996 Nov 3.5620 TT w 57.23400 ) e 1.00000000 O 31.51600 ) 2000.0 q 0.8420200 A.U. i 73.23400 ) Source: IAUC 6464 Positions are geocentric Revised ephemeris (replacing that on E1118) by G.Hurst using EPH.EXE by N.James: m = 8.0 + 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 Aug 30.00 5 1.83 -5 23.4 1.123 1.432 84.2 9.8 98 44 31.00 5 3.68 -4 54.7 1.098 1.419 84.5 9.7 101 44 1996 Sept 1.00 5 5.58 -4 24.8 1.074 1.406 84.8 9.6 105 43 2.00 5 7.53 -3 53.6 1.050 1.393 85.1 9.5 108 43 3.00 5 9.52 -3 20.9 1.026 1.380 85.4 9.5 112 42 4.00 5 11.57 -2 46.8 1.001 1.367 85.7 9.4 117 42 5.00 5 13.68 -2 11.0 0.977 1.354 86.0 9.3 121 41 6.00 5 15.85 -1 33.5 0.953 1.341 86.2 9.2 127 41 7.00 5 18.10 -0 54.1 0.929 1.328 86.5 9.1 132 40 8.00 5 20.42 -0 12.7 0.905 1.316 86.7 9.0 138 40 9.00 5 22.82 +0 30.9 0.881 1.303 87.0 8.9 144 39 10.00 5 25.31 +1 16.9 0.858 1.290 87.2 8.8 151 39 11.00 5 27.91 +2 5.4 0.834 1.278 87.4 8.7 159 39 12.00 5 30.62 +2 56.6 0.811 1.265 87.5 8.6 167 38 13.00 5 33.44 +3 50.8 0.788 1.253 87.7 8.5 176 38 14.00 5 36.41 +4 48.1 0.765 1.240 87.8 8.4 186 38 15.00 5 39.52 +5 49.0 0.742 1.228 87.9 8.2 196 37 16.00 5 42.80 +6 53.5 0.719 1.216 88.0 8.1 208 37 17.00 5 46.26 +8 2.1 0.697 1.203 88.0 8.0 220 37 18.00 5 49.92 +9 15.0 0.675 1.191 88.0 7.9 233 37 19.00 5 53.82 +10 32.6 0.654 1.179 88.0 7.8 248 37 20.00 5 57.97 +11 55.2 0.633 1.167 87.9 7.7 264 36 21.00 6 2.41 +13 23.1 0.612 1.155 87.8 7.6 281 36 22.00 6 7.17 +14 56.8 0.592 1.144 87.6 7.4 300 37 23.00 6 12.30 +16 36.4 0.573 1.132 87.3 7.3 319 37 24.00 6 17.85 +18 22.5 0.554 1.121 87.0 7.2 341 37 25.00 6 23.86 +20 15.1 0.536 1.109 86.7 7.1 363 37 26.00 6 30.40 +22 14.5 0.519 1.098 86.2 7.0 387 38 27.00 6 37.56 +24 20.7 0.503 1.087 85.7 6.9 411 38 28.00 6 45.40 +26 33.7 0.488 1.076 85.0 6.8 437 39 29.00 6 54.04 +28 53.0 0.474 1.065 84.3 6.7 463 40 30.00 7 3.58 +31 18.1 0.461 1.054 83.5 6.5 488 41 PROBABLE NOVA IN CRUX Further to the discovery announcement on E1120, the following magnitude estimates have been reported to us: 1996 Aug 27.75UT, 10.4 (Berto Monard, 40x120 apogee, Zambia); 28.70, 10.8 (Monard); 29.72, 11.0 (Monard); 30.43, 10.8 (Peter Nelson, 0.32-m refl., Australia); 30.45, 11.0 (Fraser Farrell, Australia); 30.71, 11.3 (Monard). Guy M Hurst