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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1559      2000 Sept 8 06.17UT
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/2000 R1 (SHOEMAKER-LEVY 5)
The LINEAR team reported that one of their objects observed on Sept.
6 was cometary, and T. Spahr and the D. Green noted that this was
about 0.6 deg northwest of the prediction for P/1991 T1 = 1991z =
1991 XXII (MPC 29882, 39661), corresponding to Delta(T) = -1.4 day.
Following a request from the Central Bureau, D. Balam reports that
images taken with the 1.82-m Plaskett telescope of the National
Research Council of Canada show this object to have a well-condensed
coma and a fan-shaped tail extending 30" in p.a. 250 deg.
							IAUC 7488

This comet would be a challenging target for CCD observers. It is
currently moving slowly through Taurus and it will be brighter than
18th magnitude until the end of the year. An ephemeris by the
undersigned is given below.

T  2000 Aug  17.0846 TT      w   6.23310 )
e  0.52936000                O  29.69040 ) 2000.0
q  1.9886230 A.U.            i  11.77060 )
Source: IAUC 7488    Positions are geocentric

m = 13.5 + 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.
2000 Sept
   8.00   4 54.95  +26 17.9   1.722   1.998   90.2  17.7    63   67
  13.00   5  3.33  +27  6.4   1.678   2.003   93.1  17.6    60   66
  18.00   5 11.28  +27 54.2   1.635   2.009   96.1  17.6    56   65
  23.00   5 18.75  +28 41.6   1.593   2.015   99.3  17.6    53   63
  28.00   5 25.66  +29 28.9   1.552   2.023  102.6  17.5    49   61
2000 Oct 
   3.00   5 31.93  +30 16.2   1.513   2.031  106.1  17.5    45   58
   8.00   5 37.52  +31  3.8   1.475   2.041  109.7  17.4    41   55
  13.00   5 42.34  +31 51.7   1.438   2.051  113.5  17.4    37   50
  18.00   5 46.34  +32 40.0   1.404   2.062  117.4  17.4    33   43
  23.00   5 49.44  +33 28.6   1.372   2.074  121.6  17.4    29   34

V446 HER (= NOVA HER 1960)
Boris Gaensicke (Universitaetssternwarte Goettingen) has requested that
suitably equipped observers should monitor this post-nova for outbursts.
The star is normally about mag 18 in quiescence with outbursts reaching
mag 15.5 or so. The period between outbursts is approximately 23 days.
Filtered or unfiltered images should be obtained on every clear night
until the end of September and reports should be sent to Gaensicke
directly. Further details and a finder chart can be found on Gaensicke's
website:

http://alpha.uni-sw.gwdg.de/~boris/outgoing/V446Her

An image of the field taken by the undersigned can be found on the TA
website.

Nick James (ndj@astro1.demon.co.uk).