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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1256      1997 Dec 07 16.55UT
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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1997 WQ28 (=Q1997/083)
Gareth Williams, Minor Planet Center, USA has provided the
above designation for the object found by Mark Armstrong and
announced on E1255.
Nick James, Chelmsford, England reports:
I have now re-measured Dec 6 observations and used the
re-computed orbit to identify a faint image on Dec 5. The results
are below.
               2000
C1997 12 05.90476 01 56 05.23 +24 43 10.7                      970
C1997 12 06.76480 01 55 43.63 +24 41 36.8                      970
C1997 12 06.81019 01 55 42.46 +24 41 31.6                      970

Reductions used ten GSC stars.

Elements for equator and equinox 2000.0
Epoch = 1997 Nov 28.00 TT  (JDT 2450780.50)
T = 1998 May  8.75855 TT    w =  99.33199
e =   0.2726008             O =   6.33014
q =   2.0727155             i =  10.55434

FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMET HALE-BOPP
Mark Kidger e-mails:
This conference is being held at Puerto de la Cruz (Tenerife) from
February 2nd-5th 1997 at the Puerto de la Cruz Conference Centre.
The aim of the meeting is to get together as many people as
possible who have observations of Comet Hale-Bopp, be they amateur
or professional. During the four days of the meeting we will
discuss all aspects of the comet's behaviour and activity,
from the orbit and dynamics, to the light curve.

Invited speakers include many of the world's finest experts in
comets:

David Jewitt, Brian Marsden, Richard West, Mike A'Hearn,
Klaus Jockers, Michael Combi, Zdenek Sekanina, Hal Weaver,
Donald Yeomans, etc. Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp will also attend
and will give a public lecture.

The conference programme includes visits to Teide and La Palma
Observatory and various other social activities.

Apart from the many invited talks, there will be a large number
of submitted oral presentations and space for as many poster
presentations as are offered.
We are particularly keen for as many as possible of the amateur
astronomers with good quality visual or CCD observations to
attend and present their results. We will encourage collaborations
to start up between professional groups and amateurs at the
meeting. It is not necessary to present results to be able to
attend.
The formal deadline for registration of abstracts (summaries of
presentations) was November 15, but registrations will be accepted
after this date whilst accomodation is available.
Detailed information can be found on the ESO Web Page
                       (http://www.eso.org)
or at the IAC's special Web Page for the conference:
                  http://www.iac.es/Hale-Bopp/index.html
Guy M Hurst