------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2035 2004 Sep 11 11.51UT 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 2004 R1 Robert McNaught has reported his discovery of a comet on CCD images obtained with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring on 2004 Sept. 2.4UT. The object was diffuse with a tail to the southeast. Follow-up images of Sept 4.4UT with the Siding Spring 1.0-m f/8 reflector show the comet to be diffuse with a 10" coma and a tail 15" long in p.a. 110 deg. The following positions are by Robert McNaught: 2004 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Sept. 2.42449 15 06 39.13 -16 52 53.6 17.6 2.45293 15 06 47.63 -16 53 09.9 18.3 4.36913 15 16 28.16 -17 11 24.4 19.1 4.42519 15 16 45.15 -17 11 54.0 19.2 COMET C/2004 Q2 (MACHHOLZ) Martin Mobberley comments on the prospects for this comet (cf E-Circular 2031): Although C/2004 Q2 is very low from the UK at present, the Winter prospects for Machholz look very good for the period after Christmas. Once the Full Moon moves out of the way, after Dec 28th, the comet will already have a positive Declination and be moving rapidly north through Taurus. Currently it is predicted to be 4th mag at that time. During the next two weeks, through to mid January, it is predicted to stay at fourth mag and passes 0.345 AU from Earth on January 6th (Perihelion on January 24th at 1.2 AU from the Sun). The comet passes three degrees West of the Pleiades on Jan 7th and if it has a good tail it might conceivably stretch to the Pleiades...... The comet keeps heading north and passes within 5 degrees of the pole on March 11th 2005, but will probably have faded to Mag 7 by then. Guy M Hurst