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IAUC 3041: 1936 CA (ADONIS); Poss. COMET LOVAS

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 3041
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Cable Address: SATELLITES, NEWYORK     Telex: 921428
Telephone: (617) 864-5758


1936 CA (ADONIS)
     C. T. Kowal, Hale Observatories, reports the tentative recovery
of this object on a single exposure with the 122-cm Schmidt
telescope at Palomar.  Positions of the ends of the trail are:

     1977 UT             R. A. (1950) Decl.        mpg
     Feb. 14.48681    11 20 44.15   + 7 10 57.6    16
          14.49236    11 20 41.63   + 7 11 10.9

The motion during the exposure is in excellent agreement with the
prediction by the undersigned (IAUC 3012; Minor Planet Circ. No.
4012).  Although the position is some 3' from the line of variation,
this discordance can be accounted for by differential perturbations
in the other orbital elements; and although the object is somewhat
brighter than predicted, the above observation is consistent with
the fact that Adonis could still be observed with the 254-cm reflector
at Mount Wilson on 1936 Apr. 11 (at Delta = 1.06, r = 1.76,
phase angle = 30o.5).  Linkage of the 1936 and 1977 observations is
complicated by the object's passage within 0.03 AU of Venus in 1964
(there was also an approach to 0.07 AU from the earth in 1943), so
the following results, by the undersigned, are provisional:

       T = 1976 Dec. 16.079  ET
   Peri. =  40.977                    e =   0.76426
   Node  = 351.283   1950.0           a =   1.87288 AU
   Incl. =   1.368                    n =   0.384537
       q =   0.44152   AU             P =   2.56 years

     1977 ET     R. A. (1950) Decl.     Delta     r     Mag.
     Feb. 16    11 09.29    + 8 08.6
          26    10 19.01    +11 58.5    0.356   1.345   17.0
     Mar.  8     9 55.07    +13 30.7
          18     9 44.33    +14 03.6    0.651   1.580   19.0
          28     9 41.17    +14 05.3
     Apr.  7     9 42.75    +13 47.8    1.004   1.792   20.4


POSSIBLE COMET LOVAS
     B. Szeidl, Konkoly Observatory, cables that M. Lovas discovered
a possible comet (m1 = 15, short tailed) on Feb. 17 at R.A. = 10h36m.5,
Decl. = +35o18' (equinox 1950.0).  Motion was from east to west.


1977 February 23               (3041)              Brian G. Marsden

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