------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1373 1999 Jan 07 18.19UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTEROID 510 (MABELLA),OCCULTATION Hazel McGee reports she has successfully observed the occultation of asteroid 510 Mabella by the 10.7 mag star TYC 0236 1178 on 1999 Jan 6 at 02h 33m 30s as seen from Clandon, Surrey, England. A clear, warm night (for January) with a troublesome gusty wind and a bright Moon very close to the star - nevertheless once the star was firmly identified, this was really quite an easy observation. Formal details below. Observer Mrs H. McGee Location 51 deg. 16m N, 0 deg. 30m W (Clandon, Surrey, UK) Instrument 305mm SCT x 117 Star/Asteroid TYC 0236 1178 / 510 Mabella Time of obs. 02h 23m -- 02h 34m UT, 1999 January 6 Conditions Clear and warm, but bright moon only 15 deg. away from the relatively faint star. Event start 02h 33m 29.8s Event end 02h 33m 37.3s Duration 7.5s SUPERNOVA 1998fa IN UGC 3513 W. D. Li et.al., University of California at Berkeley, report their discovery of an apparent supernova in UGC 3513 during the course of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search with the 0.8-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT). The supernova was discovered and confirmed on unfiltered observations taken on Dec. 25.4 (mag about 18.2) and 26.2 UT (mag about 18.0). The new object is located at R.A. = 6h42m51s.51, Decl. = +41d25'18".9 (2000), which is about 4".0 west and 3".8 north of the nucleus of UGC 3513. IAUC 7073 (extract) COMET C/1998 Y2 (LI) Weidong Li, Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, reports his discovery of a comet in the course of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search. The object was found automatically by the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope in the field of NGC 1041, but it was immediately recognized as a comet by Li, who then used the equipment to make a deliberate confirmatory observation, as well as follow-up observations on the following night. Available CCD astrometry: 1998 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer Dec. 26.23575 2 40 26.37 - 5 25 56.4 16.2 Li 26.26623 2 40 26.47 - 5 25 27.3 16.1 " 27.31124 2 40 32.08 - 5 08 39.7 15.3 " 27.31584 2 40 32.12 - 5 08 34.1 15.3 " 27.32030 2 40 32.08 - 5 08 29.5 15.5 " 28.00613 2 40 37.04 - 4 57 25.8 15.0 Kowalski W.-d. Li (Lick Observatory). 0.8-m KAIT. Object diffuse. Parabolic orbital elements follow. The comet is likely of short period. T = 1999 Feb. 1.854 TT Peri. = 335.683 Node = 87.914 2000.0 q = 2.67161 AU Incl. = 26.412 1998/99 R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase m1 Jan. 7 2 42.98 - 2 12.5 2.180 2.685 110.4 20.1 15.0 12 2 45.01 - 0 48.4 2.229 2.681 106.5 20.6 15.0 17 2 47.60 + 0 36.1 2.281 2.677 102.8 21.0 15.1 22 2 50.72 + 2 00.5 2.336 2.674 99.1 21.3 15.1 IAUC 7075 (extract) Guy M Hurst