------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2115 2005 May 22 19.30UT 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/2005 K1 (SKIFF) IAUC 8532 reports that B. A. Skiff, Lowell Observatory has discovered a 17th magnitude comet in Draco on images taken by himself with the 0.59-m LONEOS Schmidt telescope. The object has a 16" moderately condensed coma and a narrow fan-shaped tail extends about 90" in p.a. 325 deg. Peter Birtwhistle (Great Shefford, 0.30-m f/6.3 SCT) reports that his CCD images taken on May 17.91 UT show a moderately condensed 12" coma and a broad, 20" long tail in p.a. 320 deg (possibly extending to 50"). This image is on the TA website at: http://www.theastronomer.org/comets/2005/2005k1_20050517_birtwhistle.jpg A preliminary geocentric ephemeris for the next few days taken from the Minor Planet Center website follows. Date R.A. (J2000) Decl. Delta r El. Ph. m1 2005 05 22 17 46 11.5 +65 09 04 4.327 4.476 91.9 13.1 16.7 2005 05 23 17 44 42.4 +65 07 03 4.322 4.473 92.0 13.1 16.7 2005 05 24 17 43 12.6 +65 04 45 4.318 4.471 92.1 13.1 16.7 2005 05 25 17 41 41.9 +65 02 11 4.314 4.468 92.2 13.1 16.7 2005 05 26 17 40 10.6 +64 59 21 4.309 4.465 92.2 13.1 16.7 2005 05 27 17 38 38.7 +64 56 15 4.305 4.463 92.3 13.1 16.7 2005 05 28 17 37 06.3 +64 52 52 4.301 4.460 92.4 13.1 16.7 2005 05 29 17 35 33.4 +64 49 11 4.297 4.457 92.5 13.1 16.7 COMET C/2005 K2 (LINEAR) IAUC 8533 reports the LINEAR discovery of a 17th magnitude comet in Cepheus. Following posting on the NEO Confirmation Page, R. Hutsebaut (Bruxelles, Belgium; remotely using the 0.25-m reflector at the New Mexico Skies Observatory) reports that his CCD images from May 20.2-20.4 UT show the object to be very diffuse with a tail 1' long in p.a. 270 deg. A preliminary geocentric ephemeris for the next few days taken from the Minor Planet Center website follows. Date R.A. (J2000) Decl. Delta r El. Ph. m1 2005 05 22 22 25 44.9 +78 24 58 0.760 1.020 68.6 67.5 17.5 2005 05 23 22 37 29.4 +79 50 34 0.736 1.006 68.1 69.1 17.4 2005 05 24 22 54 09.2 +81 19 25 0.714 0.992 67.6 70.7 17.2 2005 05 25 23 19 19.8 +82 49 51 0.691 0.978 67.0 72.4 17.1 2005 05 26 00 00 18.7 +84 17 35 0.669 0.965 66.4 74.2 17.0 2005 05 27 01 11 07.8 +85 31 12 0.647 0.951 65.7 76.0 16.8 2005 05 28 03 03 58.0 +86 04 30 0.626 0.938 64.9 77.9 16.7 2005 05 29 05 04 25.2 +85 29 18 0.606 0.925 64.0 79.9 16.6 Nick James