------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1204 1997 Jun 09 18.45UT 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/1997 K1 (SOHO) C. St. Cyr, Naval Research Laboratory, reports, for the SOHO-LASCO Consortium, his discovery of a comet in images obtained with the C3 coronagraph aboard the SOHO mission, as the comet moved in toward the sun from 14.6 to 6.4 solar radii over a 23-hr interval, after which a 5-hr span of images was obtained with the C2 coronagraph to a distance of 4.0 radii. The following approximate discovery position is extracted from the more complete set of sohocentric J2000.0 positions on MPEC 1997-L02, these having been reduced by G. V. Williams from measurements by St. Cyr and D. A. Biesecker of apparent solar distance and position angle: 1997 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. May 31.221 4 36.3 +18 08 Orbital computations (also on MPEC 1997-L02) by Brian Marsden confirm St. Cyr's suggestion that this is another Kreutz sungrazer, with T = 1997 June 1.60 UT (despite some slight inconsistency again between the C3 and C2 data: see IAUC 6650). IAUC 6676 COMET C/1997 L1 On June 5, J. Zhu, Beijing Astronomical Observatory, reported observations of five new objects detected on June 3 and 4 in the course of the BAO Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program at Xinglong. While observing some of these objects on June 8, D. D. Balam, Victoria, noted that one was clearly cometary, something that was confirmed by observers in Europe. CCD precise positions: 1997 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer June 3.67351 15 31 55.45 - 6 30 17.3 Zhu 3.68338 15 31 55.21 - 6 30 10.0 " 3.69281 15 31 54.85 - 6 30 04.9 16.7 " 4.68358 15 31 21.55 - 6 20 40.0 17.1 " 4.69367 15 31 21.18 - 6 20 35.2 " 4.70343 15 31 20.81 - 6 20 29.3 " 8.36119 15 29 21.84 - 5 46 40.9 16.5 Balam 8.37000 15 29 21.56 - 5 46 35.8 16.5 " 8.85532 15 29 06.37 - 5 42 14.4 Vagnozzi 8.88558 15 29 05.39 - 5 41 58.1 17.8 Ticha 8.89414 15 29 05.13 - 5 41 52.1 " 8.89819 15 29 05.02 - 5 41 52.1 Vagnozzi J. Zhu, Y. J. Chen and X. Y. Li (Xinglong). 0.6-m Schmidt. Measurers Parabolic orbital elements by B. G. Marsden from the above observations: T = 1998 Jan. 24.330 TT Peri. = 83.677 Node = 224.946 2000.0 q = 2.39292 AU Incl. = 33.906 1997 TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong Phase m1 June 6 15 30.63 - 6 08.3 2.514 3.452 153.5 7.5 16.9 11 15 28.01 - 5 23.1 2.510 3.416 148.3 9.0 16.8 16 15 25.67 - 4 40.9 2.513 3.380 143.1 10.4 16.8 21 15 23.66 - 4 02.0 2.521 3.345 137.9 11.8 16.8 IAUC 6677 Guy M Hurst