------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1756 2002 Mar 22 09.45UT 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/2002 F1 (UTSUNOMIYA) Syogo Utsunomiya of Japan has reports the discovery of a magnitude 10.0 comet detected visually on March 18.8UT with 25x150 binoculars in morning twilight according to IAUC 7854 and other sources. The comet was estimated to have a coma diameter of 1 arc minute and was diffuse with a weak condensation. A follow-up observation on March 19.8UT showed the comet was moving north. 2002 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer Mar. 18.844 21 44.6 + 5 26 10.0 Utsunomiya 19.844 21 48.3 + 6 14 10.0 " Daniel Green, Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, has issued the following preliminary orbital elements on IAUC 7855: T = 2002 Apr. 23.460 TT Peri. = 124.093 Node = 288.167 2000.0 q = 0.45854 AU Incl. = 78.800 The following ephemeris by Guy Hurst using EPH.EXE by Nick James suggests this comet will become increasingly difficult to observe as the solar elongation angle is decreasing: m = 8.5 + 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. 2002 Mar 22.00 21 56.99 +8 5.2 1.548 0.889 32.6 8.9 203 49 23.00 22 1.21 +8 58.9 1.526 0.871 32.6 8.8 209 49 24.00 22 5.58 +9 54.0 1.505 0.853 32.5 8.7 215 50 25.00 22 10.11 +10 50.3 1.484 0.835 32.4 8.6 221 50 26.00 22 14.81 +11 47.9 1.464 0.817 32.2 8.5 228 50 27.00 22 19.71 +12 46.6 1.444 0.800 32.1 8.3 235 51 28.00 22 24.80 +13 46.6 1.424 0.782 31.9 8.2 242 51 29.00 22 30.10 +14 47.6 1.406 0.764 31.7 8.1 249 52 30.00 22 35.63 +15 49.7 1.387 0.747 31.4 7.9 256 52 31.00 22 41.40 +16 52.6 1.369 0.729 31.1 7.8 264 53 2002 Apr 1.00 22 47.43 +17 56.4 1.352 0.712 30.8 7.7 271 54 2.00 22 53.72 +19 0.7 1.336 0.695 30.5 7.5 279 55 3.00 23 0.31 +20 5.4 1.320 0.678 30.1 7.4 287 56 4.00 23 7.19 +21 10.2 1.305 0.661 29.7 7.3 294 57 5.00 23 14.40 +22 15.0 1.291 0.645 29.3 7.1 302 58 6.00 23 21.94 +23 19.4 1.278 0.629 28.9 7.0 310 59 7.00 23 29.83 +24 22.9 1.266 0.613 28.4 6.9 317 60 8.00 23 38.08 +25 25.4 1.255 0.597 27.9 6.8 324 62 9.00 23 46.71 +26 26.2 1.244 0.582 27.4 6.6 331 63 10.00 23 55.71 +27 25.0 1.235 0.568 26.9 6.5 338 65 11.00 0 5.09 +28 21.1 1.227 0.554 26.4 6.4 344 66 12.00 0 14.84 +29 14.1 1.220 0.541 25.9 6.3 349 68 13.00 0 24.96 +30 3.5 1.214 0.528 25.3 6.2 354 70 14.00 0 35.43 +30 48.5 1.210 0.517 24.8 6.0 358 73 15.00 0 46.22 +31 28.7 1.206 0.506 24.3 5.9 362 75 16.00 0 57.29 +32 3.5 1.204 0.496 23.8 5.9 365 77 17.00 1 8.60 +32 32.5 1.203 0.487 23.3 5.8 366 80 18.00 1 20.10 +32 55.2 1.203 0.479 22.9 5.7 367 82 19.00 1 31.72 +33 11.4 1.204 0.472 22.4 5.6 367 85 20.00 1 43.39 +33 20.6 1.207 0.467 22.0 5.6 366 88 21.00 1 55.05 +33 23.0 1.210 0.463 21.7 5.6 364 90 22.00 2 6.63 +33 18.5 1.215 0.460 21.3 5.6 361 93 23.00 2 18.04 +33 7.2 1.221 0.459 21.1 5.5 358 96 Guy M Hurst