1998's Comets and Supernovae

by Larry Robinson,
Sunflower Observatory
IAUC/MPC Observatory Code 739
Olathe, KS
email: [email protected]
homepage: http://members.tripod.com/~btboar/

1998 UT          R.A. (2000)   Decl.        m1
Oct. 21.34028    1 24 56.57   +12 27 57.2   18
     21.36111    1 24 56.12   +12 27 55.1
     22.20417    1 24 30.07   +12 26 17.8
     22.22500    1 24 29.65   +12 26 15.2

My Observations from Sunflower Observatory with my ST7 and LX200 10" at F4.07:

These are nuclear magnitudes not full coma
Oct 27.20070  1 22 02.71  +12 16 33.4   18.1 
Oct 27.22215  1 22 01.65  +12 16 24.4   18.8 

Barely able to see it on 300 sec. exposures. I actually had three images but one was so cruddy I could not get good astrometrics off of it.

I reported to MPC and NASA and sent image in to NASA for their comet page. No one else has posted an image of this one yet, so in a week or two we may see another one of my lousy images posted there.

Anyway, attached is a 3x300sec. image composite. How in the world Jean knew this was a comet I cannot tell you. It could be anything. I guess she matched the orbital elements according to the writeup on the IAUC circular: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/07000/07035.html

Apparently Ferris and Koehn at LONEOS (Lowell) picked it up back in September and reported it as an asteroid. Boy, I bet they are pissed! I am looking forward to ribbing them in April. hehe

COMET P/1998 U2 (MUELLER)
The following precise CCD observations have been reported:

     1998 UT          R.A. (2000)  Decl.          m1    Observer
     Sept.14.41154    1 37 47.29   +12 32 24.3   17.2   Ferris
          14.43634    1 37 47.26   +12 32 27.8            "
          14.47083    1 37 47.23   +12 32 33.0            "
     Oct. 22.84000    1 24 10.61   +12 25 02.1   16     Pravec
          22.88941    1 24 09.00   +12 24 56.6   16.0   Kornos
          22.89471    1 24 08.82   +12 24 55.8          Pravec
          22.89615    1 24 08.79   +12 24 55.7          Kornos
          22.89756    1 24 08.73   +12 24 55.6          Pravec
          22.90795    1 24 08.37   +12 24 54.0          Kornos
          22.90847    1 24 08.33   +12 24 54.9          Ticha
          22.90995    1 24 08.31   +12 24 54.5            "
          22.91245    1 24 08.22   +12 24 54.4            "
          22.94032    1 24 07.30   +12 24 51.2            "
          22.94255    1 24 07.32   +12 24 50.2   16       "

W. D. Ferris and B. W. Koehn (LONEOS, Lowell Observatory). Prediscovery images, apparently asteroidal. P. Pravec (Ondrejov). 0.65-m reflector. Broad tail 0'.4 long in <------------- A TAIL?

p.a. 140 deg.

L. Kornos and P. Koleny (Modra). 0.6-m f/5.5 reflector.
M. Tichy and Z. Moravec (Klet). 0.57-m f/5.2 reflector.

Originally I could not see a tail in my images but apparently that elongation is more than just drift in the image. I thought it was RA drift due to my crappy mount. The PA would be about right, 140Degrees. I guess 0'.4 is not much so it could be a tail. What do you think?

By the way, thanks for the fan. I hope to go get some tubing today and work on getting this rigged up so I can further cool my camera and maybe this stuff will look better on these really faint magnitudes. I cannot believe I can get down to mag 18 with this cheap setup in my light polluted backyard. I hope it gets really bone chilling cold after this mess moves out! Imagine what could be done with a real scope and a supercooled backlit CCD in a dark site? Well, maybe we can get the money from Uncle Sam in April at Lowell. Meanwhile, I am working hard to make sure I can get on THE LIST. I wish you did not have to work so hard so you could come over more and help me stay awake! hehe

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