------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1326 1998 Aug 12 19.30UT 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 1998 P1 David Seargent, The Entrance, New South Wales, Australia, reports the visual discovery by Peter Williams of Heathcote (near Sydney) of a new comet. Selected observations: 1998 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer Aug. 10.486 15 10.8 -64 59 9.5 Williams 11.37962 15 02 11.23 -63 54 16.7 Garradd 11.38350 15 02 08.99 -63 53 59.3 " 11.385 15 02.3 -63 54 9.5 Williams 11.38775 15 02 06.78 -63 53 42.1 Garradd 11.48244 15 01 15.86 -63 46 56.5 " P. Williams (Heathcote). 0.30-m f/6 reflector (72x). Comet diffuse with a stellar central condensation of mag 13. G. J. Garradd (Loomberah). 0.45-m f/5.4 reflector + CCD. 60-sec exposure shows 8' coma and 6' tail in p.a. 103 deg; m_2 =13.2-14.4. Robert McNaught reports it at m1=9.0 on Aug 11.44UT with 20x120B. IAUC 6986 (extract) SUPERNOVA 1998dj in NGC 788 M. Modjaz, et.al., University of California at Berkeley, report their discovery of an apparent supernova during the course of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search with the 0.8-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT). SN1998dj was found and confirmed on unfiltered CCD images obtained on Aug. 8.5 (mag about 16.1) and 9.5 UT (mag about 16.0). The object is located at R.A. = 2h01m06s.92, Decl. = -6 49'04".8 (2000.0), which is about 7".1 east and 8".6 south of the nucleus of NGC 788. IAUC 6986 (extract) OCCULTATIONS BY ASTEROIDS Richard Miles reports that during the forthcoming week, astronomers located in the UK and parts of Europe have the unrivalled opportunity of witnessing three occultations of 8th magnitude stars by asteroids. FIRST EVENT: 1428 MOMBASA on Thursday evening, August 13/14 This medium-sized 60 km diameter object is predicted to occult the Hipparcos star, HIP 86271 (V=8.6) located at: RA(2000): 17h 37m 39s Dec(2000) -17deg 49'37" Observational coverage should span 21:54-22:10 UT, with the expected mid-time (from the UK) = 22:02 UT SECOND EVENT: 1280 BAILLAUDA early on Sunday morning, August 15/16 This medium-sized 55 km diameter object is predicted to occult the fairly bright star, PPM 96939 (V=8.9) located at: RA(2000): 07h 02m 46s Dec(2000) +24deg 30'18" Observational coverage should span 01:57-02:05 UT, with the expected mid-time (from the UK) = 02:01 UT THIRD EVENT: 444 GYPTIS early on Monday morning, August 16/17 This large 170 km diameter object is predicted to occult the Hipparcos star, HIP 24872 (V=8.4) located at: RA(2000): 05h 19m 59s Dec(2000) +16deg 43'51" Observational coverage should span 03:27-03:37 UT, with the expected mid-time (from the UK) = 03:32 UT Further details from: rmiles@baa.u-net.com Guy M Hurst