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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1298      1998 May 10 15.40UT
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.demon.co.uk/astronomer
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COMET C/1998 J1 (SOHO)
C. St. Cyr, Naval Research Laboratory, on behalf of the SOHO-LASCO
Consortium, reports the discovery by S. Stezelberger of a bright
comet in the north-western corner of the field of view of the
C3 coronagraph, some eight degrees from the sun:

               1998 UT           R.A. (2000) Decl.
               May   3.779       2 10.2      +19 35

Preliminary measurements by Stezelberger and St. Cyr, reduced by
G. V.Williams and given on MPEC 1998-J13, show the comet, estimated
by St. Cyr at mag 0 and possibly brighter, continuing to move
across the top of the C3 field.  There is a fanshaped tail
extending antisunward at least to the edge of the field, and there
may be a separate narrow tail extending roughly along the direction
of motion.  Computations by Brian Marsden show that the
observations are represented rather unequivocally by the following
parabolic orbital elements and suggest that the comet might become
observable from the ground, particularly later in the month at
solar elongations favouring the southern hemisphere.

     T = 1998 May   8.901 TT          Peri. = 107.577
                                      Node  = 348.442   2000.0
     q = 0.17454 AU                   Incl. =  55.085

1998 TT     R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta      r    Elong.Phase  m1
May   5     2 23.55    +21 24.8    1.190    0.234    7.7  35.4  0.1
      6     2 35.00    +22 50.6    1.165    0.211    7.5  38.6 -0.4
      7     2 47.69    +24 06.1    1.137    0.191    7.6  44.3 -0.9
      8     3 01.57    +25 04.1    1.107    0.178    8.1  52.9 -1.3
      9     3 16.29    +25 37.0    1.075    0.175    8.9  63.6 -1.4
     10     3 31.27    +25 40.0    1.042    0.180    9.9  74.8 -1.4
     11     3 45.90    +25 13.5    1.010    0.194   11.0  84.5 -1.1
     12     3 59.81    +24 22.3    0.980    0.215   12.3  91.9 -0.7
     13     4 12.86    +23 12.2    0.953    0.239   13.6  96.9 -0.3
     14     4 25.07    +21 48.3    0.930    0.266   15.0 100.0  0.1
     15     4 36.54    +20 14.3    0.910    0.294   16.6 101.6  0.5
     16     4 47.35    +18 33.2    0.892    0.323   18.2 102.2  0.8
     17     4 57.60    +16 47.0    0.878    0.352   19.9 101.9  1.2

Editor: Extreme care is needed when attempting to observe any
object so close to the Sun.

Guy M Hurst