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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1221      1997 Aug 08 23.00UT
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
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COMET C/1997 P1 (SOHO)
    C. St. Cyr, Naval Research Laboratory, reports, for the SOHO-LASCO
Consortium (see IAUC 6685), the discovery by S. Stezelberger of
another comet in SOHO-LASCO C3 coronagraph images.  This comet had a tail
that was at least 3 solar radii long, and a preliminary estimate
indicates that it was brighter than m1 = 4.  Measurements by D. Biesecker
and St. Cyr were reduced by G. V. Williams and given on MPEC 1997-P04,
the approximate discovery position being:

                1997 UT           R.A. (2000) Decl.
                Aug.  3.865       8 26.5      +14 06

C3 observations extend to Aug. 5.700 UT, while C2 observations are from
Aug. 5.634 to 5.762, at which time the solar distance was 2.7 radii.  The
comet is apparently a Kreutz sungrazer--in fact, second in brightness to
C/1996 Y1 among the Kreutz sungrazers observed by SOHO--but it is not
possible to obtain a meaningful orbit solution from the complete data set.
IAUC 6713
Orbital elements from 1997 Aug 3-4 data (by Brian Marsden, MPEC P04):

          T 1997 Aug. 5.68 TT        w 50.91   )
          e 1.00000000               O 325.34  )   2000.0
          q 0.0067                   i 141.90  )


VARIABLE NEAR M27
As reported in the TAGRP message of 1997 Aug 3, Gianluca Masi (Ceccano,
Italy) has reported the discovery of a new variable in the field of M27.
The discovery has been widely discussed on VSNET.
The latest situation is as follows:

Position:         19h 59m 41.92s +22d 33' 49.6" (2000)

Magnitudes by Masi (approx unfiltered CCD):
                   1996 Dec 27 & Dec 31: approx mag 14.0
                   1997 Jul 9: approx mag 15.5

Brian Skiff comments:
The new Masi variable is _not_ Leos Ondra's Mira, which is very close
(actually superposed) on the planetary nebula. The new star is about 10'
south of the nebula.

Jost Jahn reports the following archival photographic magnitudes:
1986 Apr 13  01:54:37-02:10:34 UT  15.0-15.5 (Limit 16:)
1990 May 24  22:03:58-22:37:53 UT  <15.0     (Limit 15:)
1990 May 24  23:38:11-23:06:44 UT  <15.0     (Limit 15:)

Jost also comments that USNO A1.0 gives a red magnitude of 13.7 and a
blue magnitude of 17.2 for the new variable (B-R = 3.5).
Brian Skiff comments:
     The B-R color of 3.5 is actually quite typical for mid-M giants, such
as semiregulars or Miras, especially for such stars right on the galactic
plane.

Martin Mobberley