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IAUC 4658: 1988j; 1988 SM; 1988h

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 4658
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Telephone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)
TWX 710-320-6842 ASTROGRAM CAM     EASYLINK 62794505
MARSDEN or GREEN@CFA.BITNET    MARSDEN or GREEN@CFAPS2.SPAN


COMET MACHHOLZ (1988j)
     O. C. St. Cyr, High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, reports:
"This comet was not detected by the white-light Coronagraph/Polarimeter
(C/P) aboard NASA's Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) spacecraft
during Sept. 17.88-18.83 UT.  The comet was predicted to be within
the C/P field-of-view during this entire period.  We suggest that it
was not brighter than mag about 4, based on the detection of beta
Vir (mag 3.6), which was identified in C/P images taken near the
time of the comet 1988j observing program."
     Numerous negative reports by visual observers during the
past week suggested that this comet has indeed faded considerably,
to fainter than m1 = 11.  A photograph by M. Jager, Fischamend,
Austria, on Oct. 3.76 UT (0.20-m Schmidt camera + technical pan
film) shows the comet at m1 = 12.0 +/- 1.0, with a diffuse 3' coma.


1988 SM
     R. H. McNaught, Siding Spring Observatory, reports the discovery
by M. Hartley of a fast-moving asteroidal object.  The following
measurements by McNaught are from plates taken with the U.K. Schmidt
telescope by Hartley (Sept. 29) and Q. A. Parker (Oct. 3):

     1988 UT             R.A. (1950) Decl.       Mag.
     Sept.29.40850   22 08 00.09   -12 25 12.8    17
          29.46752   22 08 05.67   -12 21 17.6
     Oct.  3.53054   22 15 04.87   - 8 11 39.8    17
           3.54096   22 15 05.76   - 8 11 07.2


COMET SHOEMAKER-HOLT-RODRIQUEZ (1988h)
     Total visual magnitude estimates:
July 8.93 UT, 14.0 (A. Boattini, Florence, Italy, 0.40-m reflector);
Aug. 12.90, 13.6 (S. Baroni, Milan, Italy, 0.33-m reflector); 14.32,
13.8 (R. Keen, Mt. Thorodin, CO, 0.32-m reflector); 18.92, 13.5
(Boattini); 21.31, 13.8 (A. Hale, Las Cruces, NM, 0.41-m reflector);
Sept. 7.08, 13.6 (J. E. Bortle, Stormville, NY, 0.50-m reflector);
7.86, 13.4 (S. Korth, Dusseldorf, West Germany, 0.36-m reflector);
15.27, 13.7 (Hale); 17.22, 13.6 (Keen).


1988 October 4                 (4658)             Daniel W. E. Green

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