Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams

Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams -- Image credits

IAUC 6456: P/1996 N2

The following International Astronomical Union Circular may be linked-to from your own Web pages, but must not otherwise be redistributed (see these notes on the conditions under which circulars are made available on our WWW site).


Read IAUC 6455  SEARCH Read IAUC 6457

View IAUC 6456 in .dvi or .ps format.
IAUC number


                                                  Circular No. 6456
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
BMARSDEN@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or DGREEN@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET P/1996 N2 (ELST-PIZARRO)
     On Aug. 7 Eric W. Elst, Royal Observatory, Uccle, reported his
discovery of a possible comet on mid-July exposures by Guido Pizarro
with the 1.0-m Schmidt at the European Southern Observatory.  Further
ESO Schmidt plates were then obtained, and on Aug. 19, with the help
of orbit computations by the undersigned, Elst was able to identify
the object on them.  The continued presence of a tail seemingly
confirms the object as a "comet", even though the orbit is completely
that of a main-belt minor planet with the implied long-term stability.

     1996 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m1    Observer
     July 14.27639   22 00 05.53   -11 16 51.5   18.3   Pizarro
          14.30278   22 00 04.85   -11 16 55.5            "
          16.29514   21 59 21.38   -11 21 23.5            "
          16.32153   21 59 20.61   -11 21 28.3            "
     Aug.  8.27986   21 45 48.76   -12 42 18.0            "
           8.30625   21 45 47.50   -12 42 24.7            "
           8.97986   21 45 18.07   -12 45 23.6          Pollas
           8.99028   21 45 17.57   -12 45 25.3            "
           9.23889   21 45 06.50   -12 46 25.9   18.0   Pizarro
           9.26528   21 45 05.20   -12 46 32.7            "
          17.95139   21 38 33.54   -13 24 40.5          Pollas
          17.97222   21 38 32.60   -13 24 43.2            "
          20.0271    21 37 00.3    -13 33 39            Elst
          20.89057   21 36 22.30   -13 37 19.7   17.1   Ticha
          21.03161   21 36 15.85   -13 37 55.6            "
          21.26023   21 36 05.96   -13 38 53.1   18.2   Offutt
          21.28061   21 36 04.98   -13 38 58.7   18.5     "

G. and O. Pizarro (European Southern Observatory).  1.0-m Schmidt.  Measurer
   E. W. Elst.  Narrow tail more than 1' long in southwestern quadrant.
C. Pollas (Caussols).  0.9-m Schmidt.  Measurer E. W. Elst.
E. W. Elst (Uccle).  0.8-m Schmidt + CCD.  Tail in p.a. 250 deg.
J. Ticha, M. Tichy and Z. Moravec (Klet).  0.57-m f/5.2 reflector + CCD.
   Tail > 3' long to west-southwest.  No evident coma.
W. Offutt (Cloudcroft).  0.6-m f/7 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD.  Bright,
   sharply-defined, structureless tail > 3'.9 long (off edge of field)
   in p.a. 251 deg.  Head completely stellar, no discernible coma.

                      (C) Copyright 1996 CBAT
1996 August 21                 (6456)              Brian G. Marsden

Read IAUC 6455  SEARCH Read IAUC 6457

View IAUC 6456 in .dvi or .ps format.


Our Web policy. Index to the CBAT/MPC/ICQ pages.


Valid HTML 4.01!