------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1306 1998 May 26 20.00UT 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/1998 K3 (LINEAR) Another comet has been found among the fast-moving asteroidal objects reported by the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research project and included on The NEO Confirmation Page (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/NEO/ToConfirm.html): 1998 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m2 May 23.36714 16 36 54.32 + 2 27 43.5 18.4 On sending the first confirmatory observations on May 24.5 UT, F. B. Zoltowski (Woomera, 0.3-m Schmidt-Cassegrain) remarked on the "poor" nature of the images, and on May 25.5 he added that they were diffuse and difficult to measure (unlike those of the six other LINEAR objects he also observed at that time). Initial orbit computations at the Minor Planet Center suggested that the orbit was retrograde. In response to our request, M. Tichy (Klet, 0.6-m reflector), observing on May 25.9, also remarked that the object seemed slightly diffuse (coma about 8"). In better conditions on May 26.2, W. B. Offutt (Cloudcroft, 0.6-m reflector) remarked on a faint coma, some 3" in diameter, and a faint, but discernible, tail extending about 10" from the central condensation in p.a. approximately 120 deg. S. Nakano reports that A. Sugie (Dynic, 0.6-m reflector), observing on May 26.6, independently noted the object's cometary nature, with a 6"-8" coma and a 6" tail to the east. The following parabolic orbital elements, computed by Brian Marsden from 45 observations May 23-26, are taken from MPEC 1998-K19: T = 1998 Mar. 3.897 TT Peri. = 46.986 Node = 307.813 2000.0 q = 3.53934 AU Incl. = 160.184 1998 TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase m1 May 22 16 40.27 + 2 15.1 2.671 3.612 154.8 6.9 17.7 27 16 27.94 + 3 00.0 2.675 3.622 155.5 6.6 17.7 June 1 16 15.67 + 3 40.3 2.693 3.631 153.9 7.1 17.8 6 16 03.66 + 4 15.5 2.726 3.642 150.3 7.9 17.8 11 15 52.10 + 4 45.0 2.771 3.653 145.4 9.1 17.8 16 15 41.13 + 5 08.9 2.829 3.664 139.9 10.3 17.9 21 15 30.87 + 5 27.2 2.897 3.676 134.0 11.5 18.0 26 15 21.40 + 5 40.3 2.976 3.689 127.9 12.6 18.0 July 1 15 12.79 + 5 48.4 3.063 3.702 121.9 13.5 18.1 6 15 05.03 + 5 52.3 3.157 3.715 115.9 14.2 18.2 IAUC 6916 Martin Mobberley