------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2528 2009 Feb 24 15.25UT 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 33P/DANIEL: OUTBURST A report from the Central Bureau by Dan Green on IAUC 9022 indicates that sometime between 2009 Jan. 11 and 30, comet 33P appears to have undergone an outburst of about 3 magnitudes in total brightness (from mag about 18 to about 15), according to CCD astrometric observations contributed to the Minor Planet Center. CCD observations by K. Kadota, Japan, using a 0.25-m f/5 reflector and others indicate an additional brightening of about 1 mag between Feb. 7 and 20. A standard power-law formula predicts little change in the comet's brightness over this span (T = 2008 July 20.3 TT). Recent astrometry, revised orbital elements by Brian G. Marsden appeared on MPEC 2009-D52 as follows: Epoch 2008 Aug. 2.0 TT = JDT 2454680.5 T 2008 July 20.34843 TT MPC q 2.1697263 (2000.0) P Q n 0.12172673 Peri. 18.97568 +0.10009234 -0.93165230 a 4.0322312 Node 66.57206 +0.85654460 -0.09794513 e 0.4619043 Incl. 22.37553 +0.50627351 +0.34990105 P 8.10 From 152 observations 1992-2009, mean residual 0".79. Ephemeris: Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. 2009 02 18 11 32.74 +40 36.1 1.830 2.702 145.4 2009 02 28 11 23.47 +41 21.2 1.869 2.743 145.6 2009 03 10 11 13.79 +41 33.5 1.931 2.786 142.6 2009 03 20 11 04.98 +41 12.7 2.015 2.828 137.3 2009 03 30 10 58.00 +40 22.3 2.118 2.872 130.7 2009 04 09 10 53.44 +39 08.0 2.240 2.915 123.6 2009 04 19 10 51.45 +37 36.2 2.375 2.959 116.2 2009 04 29 10 51.90 +35 52.3 2.523 3.003 108.8 2009 05 09 10 54.54 +34 00.6 2.679 3.048 101.6 Over this period of the ephemeris, m1 was not given but m2 quoted as magnitude about 22. Editor: No observations were received at TAHQ for the February issue just published but if anyone has any results over recent weeks please e-mail ahead of the usual schedule for March. Guy M Hurst