------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2187 2006 Jan 05 19.03UT 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 Backup: gmh@wdcc1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.theastronomer.org ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET C/2006 A1 (POJMANSKI) Grzegorz Pojmanski, Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory, reports on IAUC 8653 his discovery of a diffuse comet with a coma diameter of 1' on 3-min CCD frames taken on 2006 Jan. 1 and 4 with a 180-mm-focal-length f/2.8 telephoto lens (+ V filter) in the course of ASAS at Las Campanas. Subsequently various earlier images have been found including an apparent independent detection by K. Cernis, and follow-up confirmation has been obtained by S. Roland of Montevideo, Uruguay. 2005/6 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer Dec. 25 22 09.0 -71 07 SWAN 29.03145 21 50 29 -69 40.6 13.2 ASAS Jan. 1 21 42.4 -68 23 SWAN 4.99875 21 28 51.64 -67 09 39.9 14.6 Roland 5.00339 21 28 50.91 -67 09 33.7 14.6 " 5.07266 21 28 39.51 -67 07 58.5 14.5 " Dan Green has provided provisional orbital elements: T = 2006 Feb. 22.671 TT Peri. = 350.499 Node = 212.275 2000.0 q = 0.56748 AU Incl. = 93.230 Ephemeris by Hurst using EPH.EXE by Nick James: m = 10.5 + 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. 2006 Jan 5.00 21 28.88 -67 9.7 1.520 1.164 50.0 12.1 69 324 6.00 21 26.18 -66 47.2 1.513 1.148 49.4 12.0 69 325 7.00 21 23.56 -66 24.4 1.506 1.132 48.7 11.9 69 326 8.00 21 21.02 -66 1.5 1.499 1.116 48.1 11.9 69 326 9.00 21 18.54 -65 38.3 1.492 1.100 47.5 11.8 70 327 10.00 21 16.13 -65 14.8 1.484 1.084 46.9 11.7 70 328 11.00 21 13.77 -64 51.0 1.476 1.068 46.3 11.6 70 328 12.00 21 11.47 -64 26.9 1.467 1.051 45.7 11.6 71 329 13.00 21 9.22 -64 2.5 1.459 1.035 45.2 11.5 72 329 14.00 21 7.01 -63 37.7 1.450 1.019 44.6 11.4 72 330 15.00 21 4.83 -63 12.5 1.441 1.003 44.1 11.3 73 330 16.00 21 2.70 -62 46.9 1.431 0.987 43.5 11.2 74 331 17.00 21 0.60 -62 20.8 1.421 0.971 43.0 11.1 75 331 18.00 20 58.53 -61 54.2 1.411 0.955 42.5 11.0 76 332 19.00 20 56.49 -61 27.1 1.400 0.940 42.1 11.0 78 332 20.00 20 54.47 -60 59.3 1.389 0.924 41.6 10.9 79 333 21.00 20 52.47 -60 30.8 1.378 0.908 41.2 10.8 81 333 22.00 20 50.50 -60 1.7 1.366 0.893 40.7 10.7 82 333 23.00 20 48.55 -59 31.7 1.354 0.877 40.3 10.6 84 334 24.00 20 46.61 -59 0.9 1.341 0.862 39.9 10.5 86 335 25.00 20 44.69 -58 29.1 1.328 0.846 39.5 10.4 89 335 26.00 20 42.79 -57 56.3 1.315 0.831 39.2 10.3 91 336 27.00 20 40.91 -57 22.4 1.302 0.816 38.8 10.2 94 336 28.00 20 39.05 -56 47.3 1.288 0.802 38.5 10.1 97 337 29.00 20 37.21 -56 10.8 1.273 0.787 38.2 10.0 100 338 30.00 20 35.38 -55 33.0 1.259 0.773 37.9 9.9 104 338 31.00 20 33.58 -54 53.5 1.244 0.759 37.6 9.8 108 339 Guy M Hurst