------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1592 2000 Dec 23 12.16UT 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/2000 WM_1 (LINEAR) An apparently asteroidal object with unusual motion reported by the LINEAR team on Dec. 16 was posted on the NEO Confirmation Page. Subsequent astrometry permitted a linkage to another set of observations by LINEAR on Nov. 16 and 18, designated 2000 WM_1 on MPS 22800. The first LINEAR observations on Nov. 16 and Dec. 16 are given below. An observation of 2000 WM_1 by T. B. Spahr (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 1.2-m reflector at Mt. Hopkins) on Dec. 20.148 UT shows the object to have a 10" coma and a broad, faint tail some 10"-20" long in p.a. 45 deg: 2000 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m2 Nov. 16.14461 0 08 34.62 +59 47 36.0 18.0 Dec. 16.06960 23 58 17.08 +54 29 11.3 17.8 T = 2002 Jan. 22.7781 TT Peri. = 276.8165 Node = 237.8924 2000.0 q = 0.554808 AU Incl. = 72.5589 m = 6.5 + 5.0 log R + 10.0 log r Ephemeris by Guy Hurst using EPH.EXE by Nick James: Date R.A. (2000) Dec. R r Elong Mag. Motion h m o ' (AU) (AU) o "/hr P.A. 2000 Dec 12.00 23 58.44 +55 13.6 5.058 5.539 114.5 17.5 27 184 22.00 23 58.69 +53 25.4 5.053 5.441 108.2 17.4 27 174 2001 Jan 1.00 0 0.97 +51 42.3 5.062 5.342 101.2 17.3 26 163 11.00 0 5.00 +50 7.4 5.081 5.242 94.0 17.2 25 153 21.00 0 10.53 +48 42.5 5.105 5.141 86.6 17.2 25 142 31.00 0 17.35 +47 29.1 5.130 5.039 79.2 17.1 25 132 2001 Feb 10.00 0 25.26 +46 27.7 5.153 4.936 71.9 17.0 26 123 20.00 0 34.10 +45 38.2 5.170 4.833 64.8 16.9 27 114 2001 Mar 2.00 0 43.73 +45 0.2 5.178 4.728 58.0 16.8 28 107 12.00 0 54.03 +44 33.0 5.174 4.622 51.6 16.7 29 101 22.00 1 4.92 +44 15.7 5.156 4.516 45.7 16.6 30 96 2001 Apr 1.00 1 16.31 +44 7.4 5.122 4.408 40.4 16.5 31 92 11.00 1 28.14 +44 6.9 5.070 4.299 35.9 16.4 32 89 21.00 1 40.35 +44 13.3 5.001 4.189 32.6 16.2 33 86 2001 May 1.00 1 52.91 +44 25.7 4.912 4.078 30.6 16.1 34 84 11.00 2 5.76 +44 42.9 4.805 3.965 30.2 15.9 35 82 21.00 2 18.88 +45 4.3 4.679 3.851 31.4 15.7 36 81 31.00 2 32.22 +45 29.0 4.534 3.736 33.9 15.5 36 80 2001 June 10.00 2 45.74 +45 56.2 4.371 3.619 37.5 15.3 36 79 20.00 2 59.39 +46 25.3 4.191 3.500 41.9 15.1 36 78 30.00 3 13.11 +46 55.7 3.994 3.380 46.8 14.8 36 78 2001 July 10.00 3 26.83 +47 26.8 3.783 3.258 52.1 14.5 36 77 20.00 3 40.47 +47 58.2 3.557 3.134 57.7 14.2 35 77 30.00 3 53.89 +48 29.5 3.319 3.009 63.6 13.9 34 77 The comet could reach magnitude 4 during 2002 January when it will be in the southern skies. Guy M Hurst