------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1434 1999 Aug 07 19.05UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL ABSENCE The editor leaves on the eclipse trip to Truro in the early hours of Sunday morning (1999 Aug 8). For the first time the whole editorial board are absent through eclipse commitments. Thus these circulars will only be issued in the period August 8 to 13 if major discoveries occur. David Hurst, the editor's son, will monitor the Demon mailbox and issue an e-circular if absolutely necessary. We regret we cannot undertake to respond to any routine e-mails during that period. If any TA observer makes a possible discovery please telephone David with the details who will relay to me in Cornwall. I hope all those who are travelling to see the eclipse have good weather and enjoy the spectacle. COMET P/1999 P1 (MACHHOLZ 2) Robert McNaught reports his recovery of comet P/1994 P1 (= 1994o = 1994 XXVI) on CCD images obtained with the 1.0-m f/8 reflector at Siding Spring. The object is of stellar appearance. The indicated correction to the prediction by B. G. Marsden on MPC 27082 (for component A) is Delta T = +0.8 day. Seeing was good on Aug. 4, and there was no sign of any other components within Delta T = +/- 1.5 days. 1999 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m2 Aug. 3.55335 16 49 18.57 -11 11 12.3 20.8 3.55958 16 49 18.26 -11 11 11.7 20.3 3.57818 16 49 17.25 -11 11 07.9 20.4 4.42617 16 48 36.00 -11 08 49.8 4.42864 16 48 35.88 -11 08 49.4 4.43115 16 48 35.76 -11 08 49.1 4.43396 16 48 35.61 -11 08 48.6 Further orbital computations by Brian Marsden confirm that if the above observations are of the same object that was observed at Siding Spring on 1995 Mar. 29 and 30 (MPC 25097), this is indeed component A. However, attempts to link all the observations (back to 1994 Aug. 15), even using the nongravitational parameters A1 and A2, have not been satisfactory. But the following gravitational solution gives an acceptable fit to 67 observations back to 1994 Oct. 2 (mean residual 0".9; earlier residuals increasing to 20"): Epoch = 1999 Dec. 8.0 TT T = 1999 Dec. 9.2798 TT Peri. = 149.3039 e = 0.751095 Node = 246.1346 2000.0 q = 0.748938 AU Incl. = 12.8112 a = 3.008934 AU n = 0.1888362 P = 5.219 years IAUC 7231 Guy M Hurst