------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1355 1998 Nov 07 20.44UT 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 U5 (LINEAR) Frank Shelly reports that one of the recent LINEAR discoveries is clearly a comet. Selected precise CCD observations: 1998 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer Oct. 30.37456 6 53 34.08 +28 57 57.5 14.0 Blythe 30.98976 6 51 15.61 +29 48 38.5 Manca 30.99595 6 51 14.09 +29 49 11.4 " 31.07056 6 50 56.18 +29 55 29.9 14.3 Marechal 31.30463 6 49 59.38 +30 15 30.8 12.3 Kowalski 31.31233 6 49 57.58 +30 16 10.1 12.5 " 31.31852 6 49 55.94 +30 16 42.3 12.5 " M. Blythe, F. Shelly, and M. Bezpalko (Lincoln Laboratory ETS). F. Manca and M. Cavagna (Sormano). 0.5-m reflector. Diffuse coma and 2' westward tail. F. Marechal (Observatoire de Dax). 0.20-m reflector. Tail about 2' in p.a. 260 deg. R. A. Kowalski (Zephyrhills). 0.18-m f/9 reflector. IAUC 7044 (extract) Orbital elements: T 1998 Dec 21.7740 TT w 51.44800 ) e 1.00000000 O 66.66100 ) 2000.0 q 1.2319200 A.U. i 131.99900 ) Source: IAUC 7045 Positions are geocentric Ephemeris by Guy Hurst using EPH.EXE by N.James: m = 11.0 + 5.0 log R + 10.0 log r Date R.A. (2000) Dec. R r Elong Mag. Motion h m o ' (AU) (AU) o "/hr P.A. 1998 Nov 7.00 6 5.66 +42 28.2 0.548 1.410 130.4 11.2 438 320 8.00 5 54.45 +44 45.0 0.528 1.403 132.5 11.1 473 317 9.00 5 41.28 +47 6.9 0.509 1.396 134.4 11.0 509 315 10.00 5 25.75 +49 31.6 0.493 1.389 136.2 10.9 545 312 11.00 5 7.38 +51 55.7 0.478 1.382 137.7 10.8 580 308 12.00 4 45.71 +54 14.6 0.466 1.375 138.8 10.7 612 303 13.00 4 20.32 +56 21.9 0.456 1.368 139.4 10.7 639 298 14.00 3 51.03 +58 10.3 0.448 1.362 139.4 10.6 660 292 15.00 3 18.14 +59 31.9 0.444 1.355 138.8 10.6 674 284 16.00 2 42.58 +60 19.7 0.442 1.349 137.6 10.5 679 277 17.00 2 5.94 +60 29.7 0.443 1.343 135.9 10.5 676 268 18.00 1 30.11 +60 1.9 0.447 1.337 133.6 10.5 664 260 19.00 0 56.75 +59 0.2 0.454 1.331 131.0 10.5 644 253 20.00 0 26.90 +57 31.6 0.463 1.326 128.2 10.6 617 246 21.00 0 0.93 +55 43.9 0.475 1.320 125.2 10.6 586 241 22.00 23 38.71 +53 44.4 0.489 1.315 122.1 10.6 551 236 23.00 23 19.85 +51 39.0 0.505 1.309 119.1 10.7 515 232 24.00 23 3.88 +49 32.4 0.522 1.304 116.1 10.7 479 229 25.00 22 50.33 +47 27.6 0.542 1.299 113.1 10.8 444 226 26.00 22 38.78 +45 27.0 0.562 1.295 110.3 10.9 409 224 27.00 22 28.88 +43 31.7 0.584 1.290 107.6 10.9 377 222 28.00 22 20.35 +41 42.6 0.608 1.285 105.0 11.0 347 220 29.00 22 12.95 +39 59.8 0.632 1.281 102.5 11.1 320 219 30.00 22 6.50 +38 23.5 0.656 1.277 100.1 11.1 294 217 Guy M Hurst