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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1190      1997 May 08 20.21UT
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
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COMET C/1997 J1 (MUELLER)
Jean Mueller reports her discovery of a comet on a 40-min IIIa-J
exposure by J. D. Mendenhall and herself with the 1.2-m Oschin
Schmidt telescope in the course of the second Palomar Sky Survey.
The object's trail is condensed, with a diffuse coma and a hint of
a tail to the southeast.  The discovery was confirmed on another
40-min exposure two nights later.  The following positions of the
trail ends were measured by Mueller and reduced by G. V. Williams:

     1997 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m1
     May   3.23542   11 39 24.56   +75 42 45.5    14
           3.26319   11 39 08.45   +75 42 19.7
           5.27153   11 18 18.25   +75 01 22.0
           5.29931   11 18 04.26   +75 00 49.8
IAUC 6642

Orbital Elements:

T  1997 May   2.1780 TT      w  98.24400 )
e  1.00000000                O 276.95700 ) 2000.0
q  2.3022800 A.U.            i 122.98200 )
Source: IAUC 6644    Positions are geocentric

Ephemeris by G.Hurst using EPH.EXE by N.James:

m =  7.5 + 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.
1997 May
   2.00  11 53.61  +76  4.0   2.153   2.302   85.4  12.8   114  250
   7.00  11  2.58  +74 21.2   2.219   2.303   81.8  12.9   106  235
  12.00  10 26.87  +72  8.2   2.291   2.305   78.1  12.9    98  224
  17.00  10  2.57  +69 43.6   2.368   2.308   74.3  13.0    90  215
  22.00   9 46.01  +67 17.8   2.447   2.313   70.4  13.1    82  209
  27.00   9 34.65  +64 56.1   2.529   2.319   66.5  13.2    76  203
1997 June
   1.00   9 26.86  +62 41.0   2.612   2.327   62.6  13.3    69  199
   6.00   9 21.57  +60 33.7   2.694   2.336   58.8  13.3    64  194
  11.00   9 18.08  +58 34.4   2.775   2.346   55.1  13.4    59  191
  16.00   9 15.89  +56 43.1   2.854   2.357   51.4  13.5    54  187
  21.00   9 14.68  +54 59.3   2.929   2.370   47.8  13.6    50  184
  26.00   9 14.20  +53 22.7   3.002   2.384   44.4  13.7    47  181

SUPERNOVAE
P. Garnavich, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,
reports on behalf of The High-Z Supernova Search Team the discovery
of four supernovae on CCD images taken at the Victor Blanco 4-m
telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory.  The
supernovae were identified by comparing the images taken in 1997
April with those obtained in 1996.
 SN     1997 (UT)      R.A.  (2000)   Decl.        R      z     type
1997bu   Apr.  3    10h06m09.99   - 7 16'30.06    23      ?      ?
1997bv   Apr.  3     9 33 48.79   + 0 04 59.43    24    0.43     ?
1997bw   Apr.  3    11 30 42.02   - 0 37 56.56    24    0.5      Ia
1997bx   Apr.  3    12 25 11.80   + 0 04 54.37    23    0.35     Ia
(IAUC 6633)
Guy M Hurst