------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 879 1994 Aug 24 18.51UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England. Telephone/FAX(0256)471074 Int:+44256471074 INTERNET: GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK or GMH at GXVG.AST.CAM.AC.UK ------------------------------------------------------------------- PERIODIC COMET MACHHOLZ 2 (1994o) Updated orbital elements which show this comet is of short period: T 1994 Sept 17.8210 TT w 147.54700 ) e 0.79054000 O 247.48400 ) 2000.0 q 0.7527200 A.U. i 13.26600 ) Source: IAUC 6059 Positions are geocentric Ephemeris by G.Hurst using EPH.EXE by N.James: m = 12.5 + 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. 1994 Aug 24.00 6 46.78 +52 11.5 0.400 0.867 57.9 9.9 280 132 25.00 6 55.46 +50 56.5 0.408 0.859 56.9 9.9 272 133 26.00 7 3.48 +49 41.7 0.417 0.851 56.0 9.9 265 135 27.00 7 10.91 +48 27.4 0.425 0.843 55.2 9.9 257 136 28.00 7 17.82 +47 13.9 0.434 0.836 54.4 9.9 250 137 29.00 7 24.28 +46 1.4 0.444 0.828 53.7 9.9 243 138 30.00 7 30.32 +44 49.9 0.453 0.821 53.0 9.9 236 139 31.00 7 36.00 +43 39.6 0.463 0.815 52.4 9.9 230 139 1994 Sept 1.00 7 41.35 +42 30.6 0.473 0.808 51.9 9.9 224 140 2.00 7 46.42 +41 22.8 0.483 0.802 51.4 10.0 218 140 3.00 7 51.24 +40 16.4 0.494 0.796 51.0 10.0 213 141 4.00 7 55.83 +39 11.4 0.504 0.791 50.6 10.0 207 141 5.00 8 0.21 +38 7.7 0.515 0.786 50.2 10.0 202 141 6.00 8 4.42 +37 5.3 0.526 0.781 49.9 10.0 198 141 7.00 8 8.46 +36 4.3 0.537 0.776 49.6 10.1 193 141 8.00 8 12.36 +35 4.5 0.548 0.772 49.4 10.1 189 141 9.00 8 16.13 +34 6.0 0.560 0.769 49.2 10.1 185 141 10.00 8 19.79 +33 8.7 0.571 0.765 49.0 10.1 182 141 11.00 8 23.34 +32 12.6 0.583 0.762 48.9 10.1 178 141 12.00 8 26.80 +31 17.7 0.595 0.760 48.7 10.2 175 141 13.00 8 30.18 +30 23.9 0.607 0.758 48.6 10.2 172 141 14.00 8 33.48 +29 31.2 0.619 0.756 48.6 10.2 169 141 15.00 8 36.72 +28 39.6 0.631 0.754 48.5 10.3 166 140 16.00 8 39.89 +27 49.0 0.643 0.753 48.5 10.3 163 140 17.00 8 43.00 +26 59.4 0.655 0.753 48.5 10.3 161 140 18.00 8 46.07 +26 10.8 0.668 0.753 48.5 10.4 158 140 19.00 8 49.09 +25 23.1 0.680 0.753 48.5 10.4 156 139 20.00 8 52.07 +24 36.2 0.692 0.754 48.6 10.5 154 139 21.00 8 55.00 +23 50.3 0.704 0.755 48.6 10.5 152 139 22.00 8 57.90 +23 5.2 0.717 0.756 48.7 10.6 150 138 23.00 9 0.77 +22 21.0 0.729 0.758 48.8 10.6 148 138 24.00 9 3.60 +21 37.5 0.741 0.761 48.9 10.7 146 138 25.00 9 6.40 +20 54.8 0.754 0.763 49.0 10.7 144 137 26.00 9 9.17 +20 12.8 0.766 0.766 49.1 10.8 142 137 27.00 9 11.91 +19 31.6 0.778 0.770 49.3 10.8 141 137 28.00 9 14.63 +18 51.1 0.790 0.774 49.4 10.9 139 136 29.00 9 17.31 +18 11.3 0.802 0.778 49.6 10.9 137 136 30.00 9 19.97 +17 32.2 0.814 0.782 49.8 11.0 136 136 Recent reports suggest this comet may be brighter than expected but we would welcome further messages of recent magnitude estimates. Guy M Hurst