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IAUC 7534: COMET 73P/SCHWASSMANN-WACHMANN 3; SUNGRAZING COMETS

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                                                  Circular No. 7534
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET 73P/SCHWASSMANN-WACHMANN 3
     Recent observations suggest that three nuclear components of
comet 73P are now visible:  what appear to be components B and C
from the observed 1995 outburst and splitting (IAUC 6246, 6274,
6301) and an apparent new component (E).  Assuming that component C
(T = 2001 Jan. 27) is the primary nucleus, components B and E are
separated by Delta(T) = +0.27 and +0.74 day, respectively.
Component E was observed by K. Kadota (Ageo, Japan, 0.18-m
reflector + CCD) on Nov. 28.84 UT and by M. Jaeger (Puchenstuben,
Austria, 0.3-m reflector + Technical Pan film) on Dec. 1.19 and
2.20 -- the latter indicating that it is about 28' tailward from,
and about 1.5-2 mag fainter than, component C.  Observations by
Jaeger and earlier by A. Galad and P. Koleny (Modra, 0.6-m reflector
+ CCD) on Nov. 19.19 indicate that component B is about 2.5-3 mag
fainter than component C.  Jaeger adds that component C has a 20'
tail in p.a. 296 deg.  Total visual magnitude estimates (cf. IAUC
7523) for component C:  Nov. 25.51 UT, 11.9: (A. Hale, Cloudcroft,
NM, 0.2-m reflector; low altitude, zodiacal light); 28.84, 11.4 (S.
Yoshida, Ibaraki, Japan, 0.25-m reflector).


SUNGRAZING COMETS
     Further to IAUC 7519, D. Hammer reports his measurements for
several additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found on SOHO website
images obtained with the C2 coronagraph; the Nov. comets were found
by M. Oates, and the Dec. comets were found by X. Leprette.  The
reduced observations and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden are
given on the MPECs cited below.  Regarding IAUC 7519 and MPEC
2000-V36, D. A. Biesecker informs us that he is not confident of
the existence of comet C/1997 U6 (separated from C/1997 U5 by only
1' in position and by 0.01 day in T).

  Comet         1997 UT           R.A. (2000) Decl.       MPEC
  C/1997 V3     Nov.  1.921      14 25.7   -16 09       2000-W18
  C/1997 V4           3.601      14 29.6   -16 20       2000-W18
  C/1997 V5           8.564      14 53.3   -18 19       2000-W18
  C/1997 V6           8.868      14 51.8   -18 08       2000-X13
  C/1997 X3     Dec.  2.997      16 38.9   -23 52       2000-X13
  C/1997 X4           3.080      16 39.5   -23 49       2000-X13
  C/1997 X5           6.372      16 54.4   -24 14       2000-X13
  C/1997 X6          10.329      17 13.9   -24 50       2000-X13
  C/1997 Y1          20.889      18 02.7   -24 52       2000-X13

                      (C) Copyright 2000 CBAT
2000 December 2                (7534)            Daniel W. E. Green

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