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IAUC 4129: Prob. SUNGRAZING COMETS

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                                                  Circular No. 4129
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
TWX 710-320-6842 ASTROGRAM CAM    Telephone 617-495-7244/7440/7444


PROBABLE SUNGRAZING COMETS
     N. R. Sheeley, Jr., Naval Research Laboratory, reports
observations of two more probable sungrazing comets (cf. IAUC 3640,
3718, 3719) in the coronagraphic data from the P78-1 SOLWIND satellite.
R. Howard, M. Koomen and D. Michels were also involved with
these observations of what are tentatively called SOLWIND 4 and 5,
and the Central Bureau in fact received the provisional data below
some months before the deliberate destruction of the satellite on
Sept. 13.  Improved positions are anticipated for all five objects.
The apparent heliocentric separation F (solar radii) and position
angle O have been converted to R.A. and Decl. by the undersigned.

SOLWIND 4         UT       F        O       R.A. (1950.0) Decl.

    1981 Nov.  3.999     10.5     205.0     14 29.5     -17 42
               4.038      9.7     205.0     14 30.0     -17 31
               4.105      8.4     203.0     14 31.2     -17 15
               4.171      7.2     200.6     14 32.3     -17 01
               4.238      5.8     197.1     14 33.5     -16 43
               4.304      4.6     195.5     14 34.3     -16 26
               4.371      3.3?    188.5?    14 35.4     -16 08

SOLWIND 5         UT       F        O       R.A. (1950.0) Decl.

    1984 July 28.302      6.7     243.4      8 22.4     +18 15
              28.309      6.6     243.8      8 22.5     +18 16
              28.316      6.4     244.2      8 22.7     +18 18
              28.324      6.4     244.9      8 22.7     +18 19
              28.331      5.9     246.0      8 23.2     +18 24
              28.368      4.8     247.6      8 24.4     +18 32
              28.375      4.6     248.3      8 24.6     +18 34
              28.383      4.4     249.2      8 24.8     +18 36
              28.390      4.2     250.2      8 25.0     +18 38
              28.397      3.9     250.8      8 25.3     +18 41
              28.435      2.7     258.5      8 26.6     +18 52
              28.443      2.7     259.0      8 26.6     +18 52

     Computations by the undersigned suggest that SOLWIND 5 is a
member of the Kreutz group with T = 1984 July 28.48 ET, Peri. = 62.28,
Node = 337.30, Incl. = 139.14 (equinox 1950.0), q = 0.0044 AU.  Of all
the comets SOLWIND 4 is least likely to belong to the Kreutz group,
and the following very hypothetical elements have been derived: T
= 1981 Nov. 4.6 ET, Peri. = 97.2, Node = 25.6, Incl. = 113.7, q = 0.008 AU.


1985 November 1                (4129)              Brian G. Marsden

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