------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1362 1998 Nov 29 11.29UT 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 W2 (HERGENROTHER) A comet was found by C. W. Hergenrother on CCD images obtained by T. B. Spahr on Nov. 22 in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey. 1998 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer Nov. 21.09564 21 15 03.67 -14 37 45.0 17.3 Spahr 22.13156 21 17 30.79 -14 06 50.1 17.5 " T. B. Spahr and C. W. Hergenrother (Catalina 0.41-m f/3 Schmidt). Faint images, moderately strong condensation, broad 30"-60" tail in p.a. 80 deg. A parabolic orbit follows. The comet is probably of short period. T = 1998 Nov. 26.131 TT Peri. = 6.512 Node = 352.280 2000.0 q = 1.56059 AU Incl. = 23.364 Ephemeris by G.Hurst using EPH.EXE by N.James: m = 14.5 + 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 28.00 21 31.52 -11 11.4 1.471 1.561 76.0 17.3 116 50 1998 Dec 3.00 21 43.58 -8 42.2 1.503 1.563 74.6 17.3 117 50 8.00 21 55.74 -6 13.7 1.537 1.569 73.3 17.4 117 51 13.00 22 7.97 -3 46.5 1.574 1.578 72.0 17.5 117 51 18.00 22 20.28 -1 21.0 1.614 1.589 70.8 17.6 117 52 23.00 22 32.65 +1 2.1 1.656 1.604 69.5 17.6 117 53 28.00 22 45.08 +3 22.6 1.701 1.621 68.4 17.8 116 53 SUPERNOVA 1998et IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY J. Mueller reports her discovery of a supernova (mag about 18) on a red plate taken on Nov. 17 UT with the 1.2-m Oschin Schmidt Telescope in the course of the second Palomar Sky Survey. SN 1998et is located at R.A. = 6h59m18s.74, Decl. = +57o44'41".0 (2000), which is 5".4 west and 5".4 north of the host galaxy's centre. There is no object at this position on a Palomar Sky Survey red plate taken on 1989 Dec. 5 or on the Digitized Sky Survey. IAUC 7054 (extract) SUPERNOVAE 1998eu AND 1998ev IN ANONYMOUS GALAXIES A. Gal-Yam and D. Maoz, Tel Aviv University, report for the Wise Observatory Optical Transients Search their discovery of two apparent supernovae on unfiltered CCD images taken with the Wise Observatory 1-m telescope on Nov. 14. SN 1998eu (R = 19.7) is located at R.A. = 0h59m58s.66, Decl. = +14o18'00".4 (2000). SN 1998ev (R = 21.3) is located at R.A. = 1h04m12s.68, Decl. = +25o00'59".1. IAUC 7055 (extract) COMET C/1998 W1 (SPAHR) The above is the updated designation for the comet reported on E1361. Guy M Hurst