Circular No. 6249

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/1995 S2 (WEST-HARTLEY) J. V. Scotti, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, reports the recovery of

comet P/1989 E3 (= 1988 XVI = 1989k) by T. Gehrels and himself with the 0.9-m Spacewatch telescope at Kitt Peak. The indicated correction (ignoring perturbations) to the prediction by S. Nakano on MPC 22031 (ephemeris on MPC 25657) is ΔT = +0.91 day.

1995 UT  α_{2000}  δ_{2000}  m_{1}
Sept.21.47215  6^{h}27^{m}02.^{s}97  +30^{o}44′31′′.6
21.48218  6 27 03.78  +30 44 34.7  18.8
21.48956  6 27 04.37  +30 44 36.6  19.1
Oct. 21.50215  7 03 09.03  +33 22 31.0
21.51065  7 03 09.52  +33 22 33.8  18.2

Additional information: Sept. 21, m_{2} = 21.1, coma diameter 11′′, tail 22′′ in p.a. 268^{o}; Oct. 21, 20.3, 10′′, 29′′ in p.a. 272^{o}.

The following improved orbital elements, by B. G. Marsden, satisfy 17 observations 1989–1995 with mean residual 0′′.69:

Epoch = 1996 Apr. 27.0 TT

T = 1996 May 12.8971 TT  ω = 102.^{o}9726
e = 0.447783  Ω = 46.6659 }2000.0
q = 2.132962 AU  i = 15.3464
a = 3.862545 AU n^{o} = 0.1298356 P = 7.591 years
1995/96 α_{2000}  δ_{2000}  Δ  r  ϵ  β  m_{1}
Oct. 10 6^{h}50.^{m}65 +32^{o}15.^{′}7 2.391 2.677 95.^{o}4 21.^{o}8 18.7
20 7 01.63 +33 13.2 2.228 2.636 102.9 21.6 18.4
30 7 10.94 +34 19.2 2.071 2.596 110.8 21.0 18.2
Nov. 9 7 18.16 +35 35.3 1.924 2.556 119.1 19.8 18.0
19 7 22.85 +37 02.4 1.789 2.518 127.7 18.1 17.8
29 7 24.53 +38 39.6 1.670 2.481 136.6 15.9 17.6
Dec. 9 7 22.85 +40 23.2 1.569 2.445 145.4 13.2 17.4
19 7 17.72 +42 06.2 1.490 2.410 153.2 10.6 17.2
29 7 09.55 +43 38.7 1.436 2.376 158.0  8.9 17.0
Jan. 8 6 59.48 +44 50.3 1.407 2.345 157.3  9.3 16.9
18 6 49.19 +45 34.0 1.402 2.315 151.5 11.7 16.9
28 6 40.60 +45 47.5 1.420 2.286 143.3 14.9 16.9
Feb. 7 6 35.31 +45 34.4 1.458 2.260 134.4 18.2 16.9

1995 October 21 Brian G. Marsden