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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1329      1998 Aug 20 21.00UT
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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Possible new asteroid in Aries
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Mark Armstrong reports a possible new asteroid, imaged this morning,
near NGC 803 in Aries: RA 02h 03.8m Dec +16d 02' (2000). A check of
the minor planet database on the CBAT web page reveals no candidate
present within a 15 arcmin field. No object exists in the suspect's
position using the 34,000 object database in 'The Sky'. Mark secured
3 images, with the last taken as close to morning twilight as possible,
but the gap between first and last was only 50 mins. All observations
with the 0.26m LX200 at f/3.3 and SX CCD, at Rolvenden, Kent.

Astrometry, by Mark, using 12 GSC stars:

                   Date        R.A. (2000) Dec
               MM DD.DDDDD HH MM SS.SS  DD  '  "    Mag
MWA001 * C1998 08 20.09758 02 03 52.06 +16 00 13.3  16.9 V      960
MWA001   C1998 08 20.11819 02 03 52.56 +16 00 12.4  17.0 V      960
MWA001   C1998 08 20.13178 02 03 52.92 +16 00 11.1  17.1 V      960

Preliminary orbit from Computer Aided Astrometry

Epoch 1998 Aug. 20.0 TT = JDT 2451045.5
M 179.93565              (2000.0)            P               Q
n   0.51596720     Peri.  348.05975     -0.99358251     +0.09770109
a   1.5395294      Node   197.84823     -0.08228552     -0.97007378
e   0.2831750      Incl.   10.71667     -0.07760729     -0.22228664
P   1.91           H   13.6           G   0.15           U   ?
(Vaisala orbit: From 2 observations over 1 day; rms=0.0)

Follow up astrometry over the next few evenings is urgently required.
Please copy results to the undersigned and to Mark and also to Guy's
Demon mail box.

BAA AGM/OGM 1998 Oct 28
-----------------------
Brian G. Marsden, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, will
be the OGM speaker at the BAA meeting at 23 Savile Row on Wednesday
Oct 28th (1730 - 1930 pm); Subject: "1997 XF11, The True Story".
The AGM (preceding the OGM) will include the Presidential Address
(by the undersigned) entitled "Novae".

Martin Mobberley