------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2242 2006 Jun 28 14.59UT 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 P/2006 M3 (BARNARD) LINEAR has reported detected of an apparent asteroid as follows: 2006 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. June 23.25870 17 43 38.68 -27 26 53.5 17.1 Following the posting on the NEO Confirmation Page L Buzzi of Italy reports that he imaged the object on June 23.9UT with a 0.60-m reflector and found a 6 arcsecond circular coma with strong central condensation. Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero of Italy using a remote 0.25-m reflector + CCD based near Mayhill, New Mexico have reported to TA that the comet was imaged on June 25.38UT at magnitude 15.0 with a coma of 0.2 arc minutes diameter. Dan Green, Central Bureau, suggests that this comet is a return of P/1889 M1 = 1889 III = 1889c (Barnard), for which A. Berberich (1889, A.N. 123, 77) was the first to compute an orbit of intermediate period (about 128 years). Brian Marsden has produced the following orbital elements from observations 1889-2006: Epoch = 1889 June 7.0 TT T = 1889 June 21.2418 TT Peri. = 60.1479 e = 0.953988 Node = 272.5450 2000.0 q = 1.102918 AU Incl. = 31.2189 a = 23.970332 AU n = 0.0083983 P = 117.36 years Epoch = 2006 Aug. 13.0 TT T = 2006 Aug. 28.6903 TT Peri. = 60.4661 e = 0.954400 Node = 272.0666 2000.0 q = 1.107142 AU Incl. = 31.2161 a = 24.279424 AU n = 0.0082385 P = 119.64 years Ephemeris (M.P.E.C. 2006-M38): Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. m1 m2 2006 06 24 17 42.51 -26 43.2 0.488 1.502 173.0 15.2 2006 06 29 17 34.62 -21 14.0 0.445 1.454 166.9 14.9 2006 07 04 17 26.58 -14 42.5 0.411 1.406 158.3 14.5 2006 07 09 17 18.76 -07 15.8 0.386 1.361 148.8 14.3 2006 07 14 17 11.52 +00 48.8 0.371 1.319 138.9 14.0 2006 07 19 17 05.14 +09 06.0 0.366 1.279 129.1 13.9 2006 07 24 16 59.86 +17 09.4 0.369 1.242 119.9 13.8 2006 07 29 16 55.86 +24 38.5 0.380 1.209 111.7 13.7 2006 08 03 16 53.22 +31 23.2 0.396 1.179 104.7 13.7 2006 08 08 16 51.96 +37 21.5 0.416 1.155 99.0 13.7 2006 08 13 16 52.05 +42 36.6 0.439 1.135 94.4 13.8 2006 08 18 16 53.50 +47 13.8 0.462 1.120 91.0 13.8 2006 08 23 16 56.36 +51 18.6 0.486 1.111 88.5 13.9 2006 08 28 17 00.79 +54 56.7 0.510 1.107 87.0 14.0 2006 09 02 17 07.01 +58 12.7 0.532 1.109 86.2 14.1 TA E-CIRCULARS E2239 and E2240 Two subscribers, both with BTInternet as the ISP, have reported non-receipt of E2239 and E2240 issued on June 22 so it would be wise for everyone to check if these have been received. E2239 included the booking form for the TA Annual meeting on 2006 September 23. E2240 included a note on a variable object in Bootes, 3C 282, SN 2006da and Comet 176P/LINEAR. Both circulars are already available by selecting e-circular archive on our WWW if you are a GOLD subscriber, otherwise please contact the editor. Guy M Hurst