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IAUC 5726: 1993e

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                                                  Circular No. 5726
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)


COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY (1993e)
     Further precise positions have been reported as follows:

     1993 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m1    Observer
     Mar. 27.12479   12 25 17.77   - 3 55 32.3          McCrosky
          27.14850   12 25 16.94   - 3 55 24.6            "
          27.30417   12 25 12.37   - 3 54 57.6    15    Tatum

R. E. McCrosky and C.-Y. Shao (Oak Ridge).  1.5-m reflector + CCD.
   'Meteoric' appearance!  'Train' 41" long in p.a. 78-258 deg.
J. B. Tatum and D. D. Balam (Victoria).  0.25-m Schmidt.

     The following parabolic orbital elements satisfy the nine
observations and indicate minimum approach to Jupiter 0.31 AU
on 1993 Mar. 30:

     T = 1994 Aug. 3.441 TT           Peri. = 300.459
                                      Node  = 344.563   2000.0
     q = 2.36996 AU                   Incl. =   2.322

     The following representative elliptical orbital elements give
the minimum approach to Jupiter as 0.04 AU on 1992 July 28:

     T = 1988 Dec. 5.767 TT           Peri. =  43.253
     e = 0.18714                      Node  = 347.657   2000.0
     q = 3.91756 AU                   Incl. =   2.684

This ellipse puts the comet at r = 5.4 AU around Jupiter encounter
with Jupiter-free values of q = 5.8 and 5.2 AU in 1979 and 1998,
respectively.  The ends of the Mar. 27 Oak Ridge train can be satisfied
by varying the place in orbit by +/- 0.007 day at Jupiter encounter.
Considering only its distance, the comet would have been as bright at
its Feb. 1992 opposition as it is now, but splitting presumably
occurred near Jupiter (as with P/Brooks 2 in 1886), and this is
presumably to be associated with brightening.

1993 TT     R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta      r    Elong. Phase      m1
Feb. 22    12 39.75    - 5 16.9    4.776    5.591  142.3    6.2     13.9
Mar.  4    12 36.04    - 4 57.1    4.694    5.598  153.3    4.6     13.8
     14    12 31.65    - 4 32.5    4.640    5.604  164.4    2.7     13.8
     24    12 26.84    - 4 04.6    4.616    5.611  175.6    0.8     13.8
Apr.  3    12 21.93    - 3 35.3    4.623    5.617  173.0    1.2     13.8
     13    12 17.26    - 3 06.9    4.660    5.623  162.0    3.2     13.8
     23    12 13.11    - 2 41.2    4.727    5.628  151.1    5.0     13.9


1993 March 27                  (5726)              Brian G. Marsden

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