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IAUC 7230: Prob. NEW Sats OF URANUS

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                                                  Circular No. 7230
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/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)


PROBABLE NEW SATELLITES OF URANUS
     J. J. Kavelaars, McMaster University; B. Gladman, Observatoire de la
Cote d'Azur (OCA); M. Holman, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
(CfA); J.-M. Petit, OCA; and H. Scholl, OCA, report the discovery of two
probable new satellites of Uranus in CCD images obtained with the
3.5-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea:

     1999 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.         R
     July 18.51250   21 14 55.58   -16 39 31.9   23.4   S/1999 U 1
          18.59355   21 14 54.87   -16 39 35.1
          19.50227   21 14 47.10   -16 40 12.5
          19.57032   21 14 46.47   -16 40 15.3
          21.46464   21 14 29.75   -16 41 35.2   23.1
          21.51919   21 14 29.26   -16 41 37.5

     July 18.51250   21 13 38.33   -16 49 57.1   24.3   S/1999 U 2
          18.59355   21 13 37.61   -16 50 00.6
          19.50227   21 13 29.54   -16 50 39.5
          19.57032   21 13 28.89   -16 50 42.4
          21.46464   21 13 11.76   -16 52 06.7   24.3
          21.51919   21 13 11.26   -16 52 09.3

Although computations show that the data can be satisfied equally well by
satellite or by centaur orbits, the absence of other slow-moving objects
nearby with apparent motions remotely resembling that of Uranus suggests
that the objects are indeed satellites.  The ephemerides below are from
computations by B. G. Marsden, CfA, in which it was assumed that the
objects are near the apocenters of direct uranicentric orbits having e = 0.4:

1999 TT     R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta     r_U   Elong.  dR.A.   dDecl.
July 21    21 14.57    -16 41.2   18.959    0.154  161.9   1544+    625+
     31    21 13.05    -16 48.4   18.922    0.154  171.8   1557+    612+
Aug. 10    21 11.47    -16 55.7   18.913    0.154  178.1   1567+    597+
     20    21 09.90    -17 02.9   18.934    0.154  168.2   1573+    581+
     30    21 08.40    -17 09.6   18.984    0.154  158.2   1576+    564+

July 21    21 13.27    -16 51.7   18.889    0.062  162.2    425+      5-
     31    21 11.71    -16 59.3   18.853    0.061  172.1    402+     40-     20    21 08.48    -17 14.4   18.870    0.060  167.8    349+    107-     30    21 06.94    -17 21.4   18.923    0.060  157.8    318+    139-                      (C) Copyright 1999 CBAT
1999 July 27                   (7230)              Brian G. Marsden

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