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IAUC 6579: 55P

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                                                  Circular No. 6579
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, 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)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/cbat.html
Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET 55P/1997 E1 (TEMPEL-TUTTLE)
     O. R. Hainaut, University of Hawaii, reports his measurements of the
recovery images of the comet associated with the Leonid meteors, as follows:

     1997 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m2    Observer
     Mar.  4.62838   13 43 12.63   + 4 43 37.7   22.5   Meech
           4.637     13 43 12.31   + 4 43 41.7            "
           4.64876   13 43 11.57   + 4 43 49.0            "
           4.65752   13 43 11.07   + 4 43 54.4            "
           7.3108    13 40 40.80   + 5 10 45.3   22     Martin

K. J. Meech, O. R. Hainaut and J. Bauer (Mauna Kea).  Keck II 10-m reflector
   + LRIS CCD.  Some interference from clouds, but comet clearly visible as
   a point source.  No coma; image profile similar to stars.  Seeing 0".8.
   Magnitude is crude R estimate using 5" diaphragm.
P. Martin, K. Mueller, G. Van de Steene, N. Hurtado and J. Miranda
   (European Southern Obs.).  3.6-m New Technology Telescope + SuSI.
   Comet clearly visible on superb 15-min exposure.  No coma.  Seeing 0".7.

     Two recent predictions for comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle have been made using
the observations in 1865-1866, supplemented by the very scanty data from 1366,
1699 and 1965, the comet having been recovered on that last occasion
following an insightful prediction by J. Schubart (IAUC 1907, 1926 and 1979).
The prediction by S. Nakano and I. Hasegawa (MPC 27288), giving T = 1998
Feb. 28.079 (at epoch 1998 Mar. 8), requires correction by Delta T about
-0.14 day; that by D. K. Yeomans et al. (1996, Icarus 124, 407), giving
T = 1998 Feb. 28.091, requires correction by Delta T about -0.06 day.  For
the computation of the following orbital elements, fitted to the nine
observations in 1965 and 1997, the Yeomans value of e was assumed:

                    Epoch = 1998 Mar.  8.0 TT
     T = 1998 Feb. 27.977 TT          Peri. = 172.484
     e = 0.90551                      Node  = 235.251   2000.0
     q = 0.97657 AU                   Incl. = 162.485
       a = 10.33467 AU     n = 0.029666     P =  33.22 years

1997/98     R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta      r    Elong. Phase      m2
Mar.  3    13 44.67    + 4 27.6    3.678    4.463  137.8    8.6     22.7
     13    13 34.78    + 6 10.7    3.491    4.375  149.4    6.7     22.4
     23    13 22.77    + 8 02.3    3.338    4.286  159.5    4.7     22.2
Apr.  2    13 08.99    + 9 56.7    3.227    4.197  164.1    3.8     22.0

                      (C) Copyright 1997 CBAT
1997 March 10                  (6579)              Brian G. Marsden

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