------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1741 2002 Feb 06 09.57UT 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.theastronomer.org ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET C/2001 OG108 (LONEOS) This object was announced as long ago as 2001 Aug 13 and was first recorded by LONEOS on 2001 July 28 at m2=18.7. Although the orbital characteristics suggested it may be a comet, no such activity was seen and it has been regarded as an asteroid until now. However results during January now show a coma and some tail activity. Dan Green, at the Central Bureau, has provided the following orbital elements on IAU Circular 7814: Epoch = 2002 Mar. 27.0 TT T = 2002 Mar. 15.20618 TT Peri. = 116.41991 e = 0.9252940 Node = 10.55525 2000.0 q = 0.9940480 AU Incl. = 80.24516 a = 13.3061362 AU n = 0.02030608 P = 48.538 years Ephemeris by Guy Hurst using EPH.EXE by Nick James: m = 11.0 + 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. 2002 Feb 5.00 21 30.99 +31 14.3 1.588 1.174 47.5 12.7 46 4 10.00 21 31.58 +32 52.3 1.539 1.133 47.4 12.5 52 4 15.00 21 32.24 +34 41.8 1.481 1.097 47.8 12.3 58 4 20.00 21 32.95 +36 44.5 1.416 1.065 48.7 12.0 65 4 25.00 21 33.72 +39 2.8 1.342 1.039 50.1 11.8 74 4 2002 Mar 2.00 21 34.58 +41 39.7 1.262 1.018 52.0 11.6 84 4 7.00 21 35.60 +44 40.0 1.176 1.003 54.3 11.4 97 4 12.00 21 36.92 +48 10.5 1.085 0.995 57.0 11.2 114 4 17.00 21 38.74 +52 20.8 0.990 0.994 60.1 11.0 137 4 22.00 21 41.45 +57 24.3 0.894 1.000 63.6 10.8 168 5 27.00 21 46.01 +63 39.6 0.801 1.013 67.5 10.6 210 6 2002 Apr 1.00 21 55.50 +71 30.4 0.713 1.032 71.9 10.4 265 8 6.00 22 29.54 +81 17.5 0.638 1.057 76.8 10.3 333 15 11.00 7 26.78 +85 29.3 0.583 1.087 82.1 10.2 404 148 16.00 9 2.73 +71 45.0 0.556 1.123 87.1 10.2 445 172 21.00 9 18.12 +56 57.0 0.563 1.162 91.2 10.4 439 175 26.00 9 25.45 +43 10.3 0.603 1.205 93.6 10.7 386 175 SUPERNOVA 2002ar IN NGC 3746 This LOTOSS discovery has been reported on IAUC 7819. The object, of mag 16.5, was recorded by KAIT on Feb 3.5 and 4.5 and located at: RA 11h 37m 43.92s Dec +22 00' 34.4" (2000), 3.3"E and 0.5"S of NGC 3746's centre. SUPERNOVA 2002as IN UGC 3418 A further LOTOSS discovery has been reported in UGC 3418. The possible supernova is located at: RA 06h 12m 25.05s DEC +44 26' 16.8" (2000), 11.3"W and 3.2"S of the galaxy's nucleus. According to IAUC 7819, the magnitude 17.8 object was first noted on a KAIT image of 2002 Feb 4. Guy M Hurst