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IAUC 5906: 1993e

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                                                  Circular No. 5906
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)


PERIODIC COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY 9 (1993e)
     J. V. Scotti, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, reports his measurements
of ten of the nuclei of this comet from images obtained (under
difficult conditions in the dawn) by T. Gehrels and himself with the
0.9-m Spacewatch telescope at Kitt Peak.  The measurements are of the
nine nuclei discussed on IAUC 5892-5893 and what is possibly nucleus 20
of Jewitt et al. (1993, Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 25, 1042).  The positions
below refer to the brightest nucleus (nucleus 7).  Positions for the
other nuclei are given on MPEC 1993-X04.

     1993 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.
     Dec.  9.53912   14 06 16.83   -13 40 53.5
           9.54373   14 06 17.09   -13 40 54.2
          14.54727   14 09 54.91   -13 59 34.0

     MPEC 1993-X04 also gives improved orbital elements, by the undersigned,
for the nine nuclei previously discussed, those for nucleus 7 being:

                    Epoch = 1994 May 8.0 TT
     T = 1994 Mar. 29.9945 TT         Peri. = 354.9892
     e = 0.207491                     Node  = 220.9258  2000.0
     q = 5.379569 AU                  Incl. =   5.8254
       a =  6.788020 AU    n = 0.0557300    P =  17.685 years

     It now appears that the last encounter with Jupiter was to 0.0006 AU
on 1992 July 7.8 UT and that the adjustments to the 1992 prediscovery
ephemeris on IAUC 5801 should be: Feb. 8, -1.24 timemin in R.A., -12.2
arcmin in Decl.; Mar. 9, -0.93, -9.3; Apr. 8, -0.64, -6.1.  The IAUC
5893 ephemeris should be adjusted as follows to yield the position of
nucleus 17: 1993 Dec. 9, +0.12 timemin in R.A., +0.2 arcmin in Decl.;
1994 Jan. 8, +0.15, +0.4; Feb. 7, +0.19, +0.5; Mar. 9, +0.23, +0.6; Apr.
8, +0.28, +0.9; May 8, +0.32, +1.2; June 7, +0.37, +2.2; July 7, +0.51, +3.3.
For nucleus 1 the adjustments are: 1993 Dec. 9, +0.02 timemin in R.A.,
-0.4 arcmin in Decl.; 1994 Jan. 8, +0.03, -0.5; Feb. 7, +0.04, -0.6; Mar.
9, +0.05, -0.8; Apr. 8, +0.04, -0.8; May 8, +0.03, -0.9; June 7, 0.00,
-0.8; July 7, -0.04, -0.9.  The approximate fractional distances along
the nuclear train and Jupiter collision dates in July 1994 are: nucleus
17, 0.00, 17.6; 15, 0.15, 18.3; 14, 0.28, 18.8; 12, 0.40, 19.4; 11, 0.51,
19.9; 7, 0.69, 20.8; 6, 0.79, 21.3; 5, 0.86, 21.6; 1, 1.00, 22.3.


1993 December 14               (5906)              Brian G. Marsden

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