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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1375      1999 Jan 10 13.17UT
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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COMET P/1998 X2 (BOWELL-SKIFF)
Gareth Williams, Minor Planet Center, has rediscovered comet
P/1983 C1 (= 1983c = 1983 II) in the course of his processing of
two-night "asteroid" data obtained by the LINEAR program on Dec. 14
and 17:

     1998 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m2
     Dec. 14.44735    7 12 59.06   +28 04 19.7   18.8
          14.46919    7 12 58.59   +28 04 19.9   18.8
          14.49110    7 12 57.91   +28 04 20.2   19.5
          14.51294    7 12 57.22   +28 04 24.6   19.5
          17.41385    7 11 36.68   +28 08 41.5   18.5
          17.43657    7 11 35.95   +28 08 43.1   18.5
          17.45923    7 11 35.30   +28 08 44.5   19.0
          17.50490    7 11 33.59   +28 08 48.6   19.3

The indicated correction to the prediction on MPC 27081 (ephemeris
on MPC 32547) is Delta T = +17.3 days.  Williams has computed the
following improved orbital elements satisfying 32 observations
1983-1998 with mean residual 1".1:

                    Epoch = 1999 May  22.0 TT
     T = 1999 May  14.9027 TT         Peri. = 173.1151
     e = 0.691740                     Node  = 343.4517  2000.0
     q = 1.972033 AU                  Incl. =   3.8367
       a =  6.397311 AU    n = 0.0609127    P =  16.181 years

Ephemeris by Guy Hurst using EPH.EXE by Nick James:

              m2 = 15.0 + 5.0 log R + 10.0 log r

  Date    R.A. (2000) Dec.     R       r     Elong   m2.    Motion
          h  m       o  '     (AU)    (AU)     o          "/hr P.A.
1999 Jan
   2.00   7  1.36  +28 26.5   1.393   2.373  173.8  19.5    26  274
   7.00   6 57.39  +28 28.9   1.368   2.347  173.3  19.4    27  271
  12.00   6 53.36  +28 29.0   1.349   2.322  168.9  19.3    26  269
  17.00   6 49.45  +28 26.7   1.336   2.297  163.6  19.2    25  266
  22.00   6 45.84  +28 21.9   1.330   2.272  158.0  19.2    23  262
  27.00   6 42.72  +28 14.6   1.329   2.249  152.4  19.1    19  257
1999 Feb
   1.00   6 40.23  +28  5.1   1.334   2.226  146.9  19.1    15  250
   6.00   6 38.49  +27 53.7   1.345   2.204  141.5  19.1    11  235
  11.00   6 37.59  +27 40.5   1.359   2.182  136.3  19.1     8  204
  16.00   6 37.60  +27 25.9   1.378   2.162  131.3  19.0     8  158
  21.00   6 38.54  +27 10.1   1.400   2.142  126.6  19.0    13  131
  26.00   6 40.44  +26 53.2   1.425   2.123  122.0  19.0    18  119

ASTEROID 510 (MABELLA) OCCULTATION
The first sentence on E1373 should be amended to read:

"Hazel McGee reports she has successfully observed the occultation
by asteroid 510 Mabella of the 10.7 mag star TYC 0236 1178 on
1999 Jan 6 at 02h 33m 30s as seen from Clandon, Surrey, England."

Guy M Hurst