Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 5586: (4015); PERSEID METEORS 1992
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Circular No. 5586
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@CFA or GREEN@CFA (.SPAN, .BITNET or .HARVARD.EDU)
(4015) 1979 VA = COMET WILSON-HARRINGTON (1949 III)
Further to IAUC 5585, E. Bowell, Lowell Observatory, reports:
"CCD imaging at the 1.07-m Hall reflector by M. W. Buie, Lowell
Observatory, and H. Picken, Grinnell College, gave B = 18.4 +/- 0.1,
R = 17.7 +/- 0.1 near 1992 Aug. 8.5 UT, intrinsically more than 2 mag
fainter than the 1949 discovery images and perhaps indicative of a B-R
color index slightly bluer than that of the sun. No coma was present
to a limit of about 22 mag/square arcsec in either B or R. Taken
together, the observations suggest that the object is a largely
inactive comet that undergoes occasional outburst. The object is well
placed for observation during the coming months, and if cometary
activity occurs at an orbital longitude similar to that in 1949, it is
to be expected around the beginning of Oct. 1992."
Epoch = 1992 Aug. 6.0 TT
T = 1992 Aug. 21.7397 TT Peri. = 90.8705
e = 0.622794 Node = 271.0643 2000.0
q = 0.996389 AU Incl. = 2.7860
a = 2.641499 AU n = 0.2295771 P = 4.293 years
1992/93 R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase V
Aug. 16 4 32.48 +27 04.4 0.543 0.999 73.0 75.7 17.3
26 5 21.53 +27 49.5 0.592 0.998 71.7 74.0 17.4
Sept. 5 6 03.47 +27 36.6 0.642 1.015 72.1 70.9 17.5
15 6 38.91 +26 48.3 0.689 1.049 73.8 67.1 17.6
25 7 08.50 +25 40.9 0.728 1.097 76.9 62.9 17.7
Oct. 5 7 32.60 +24 26.0 0.757 1.157 81.1 58.6 17.8
15 7 51.47 +23 12.1 0.777 1.226 86.5 54.3 17.9
PERSEID METEORS 1992
Reports from Europe, relayed by A. Mizser, Hungarian Astronomical
Association, and P. Jenniskens, Dutch Meteor Society, indicate very
high visual Perseid activity, still generally in twilight on Aug.
11.79, lasting to 11.84 and possibly to 11.87 UT. J. Rao, Compu-
Weather, Flushing, N.Y., reports that monitoring by U.S. radio
amateurs generally indicates peak activity during Aug. 11.77-11.82,
possibly as early as 11.75 UT in the western U.S. These results
suggest that the peak was shifted by about -0.1 deg in solar longitude
from 1991, so that it now coincides with the nodal longitude of
associated comet P/Swift-Tuttle almost exactly (cf. IAUC 5330).
1992 August 13 (5586) Brian G. Marsden
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