Circular No. 6446

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/1996 P1 (IRAS) R. M. McNaught, Anglo-Australian Observatory, reports his recovery

of comet P/1983 M1 (= 1983j = 1983 XIV) on a plate taken by Q. A. Parker. The following observations yield an indicated correction to the prediction by K. Muraoka on MPC 22033 (ephemeris on MPC 25985) of ΔT = −1.65 days:

1996 UT α_{2000} δ_{2000} m_{1} Observer
Aug. 8.70684 0^{h}41^{m}55.^{s}57 −62^{o}34′47′′.4 13 Parker
9.56843 0 39 43.05 −62 35 33.4  Garradd
9.56937 0 39 43.00 −62 35 33.6  _{”}
9.57040 0 39 42.77 −62 35 33.5  _{”}
9.57224 0 39 42.51 −62 35 33.7  _{”}
9.57298 0 39 42.30 −62 35 33.4  _{”}

Q. A. Parker (Siding Spring). U.K. Schmidt telescope. Measured by Mc-

Naught. Comet strongly condensed with 1′.0 fan tail toward p.a. 290^{o}. G. Garradd (Loomberah). 0.25-m f/4.1 reflector + CCD.

The following improved orbital elements by the undersigned are from 85 observations 1983–1996 (mean residual 1′′.0):

Epoch = 1996 Nov. 13.0 TT

T = 1996 Oct. 29.9968 TT  ω = 3568876
e = 0.696589  Ω = 357.7007 }2000.0
q = 1.702690 AU  i = 45.9617

a = 5.611833 AU n^{o} = 0.0741390 P = 13.294 years

1996 TT α_{2000}  δ_{2000}  Δ  r  ϵ  β  m_{1}
Aug. 5 0^{h}50.^{m}44 −62^{o}27.^{′}8 1.224 1.940 119.^{o}8 27.^{o}0 12.2
10 0 38.56 −62 35.8 1.178 1.916 121.7 26.8 12.0
15 0 23.72 −62 31.4 1.134 1.892 123.5 26.5 11.8
20 0 06.21 −62 09.0 1.093 1.870 125.2 26.2 11.6
25 23 46.69 −61 22.7 1.057 1.848 126.7 26.0 11.5
30 23 26.15 −60 07.5 1.025 1.828 127.9 25.8 11.3
Sept. 4 23 05.72 −58 19.9 0.998 1.809 128.7 25.8 11.1
9 22 46.50 −55 58.9 0.977 1.792 129.1 25.9 11.0
14 22 29.33 −53 05.9 0.963 1.776 128.8 26.2 10.9
19 22 14.70 −49 45.1 0.956 1.761 127.9 26.8 10.8
24 22 02.78 −46 02.3 0.956 1.748 126.3 27.6 10.8
1996 August 9  \begin{matrix}c \\ ◯ \end{matrix} Copyright 1996 CBAT  Daniel W. E. Green