THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 129 1988 Mar 02 20.46UT. Telecom Gold 72:MAG60138 Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16, Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP, England. Telephone:(0256)471074.Int:+44256471074 Telex:265871(MONREF G) Quote"72:MAG60138 ATT G.HURST"in FIRST line. ------------------------------------------------------------------- P/COMET HARTLEY 3 (1988d) The following orbital elements for the comet announced on E-125 have been derived by Dan Green: T =1987 Aug.1.09 ET Peri=172.48 e =0.3187 Node=286.03 1950.0 a =3.5746 AU Incl= 11.37 n =0.14583 q = 2.4353 AU P =6.76years Ephemeris: 1988 ET RA(1950) DEC Earth Sun m1 Mar 5 10h00.86m -02 29.3' 10 09 57.41 -02 14.2 1.826 2.774 16.7 15 09 54.39 -01 58.1 20 09 51.86 -01 41.7 1.901 2.801 16.9 25 09 49.88 -01 25.6 30 09 48.49 -01 10.4 1.999 2.828 17.0 IAUC 4558 COMET WILSON (1986l) Z.Sekanina, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports that analysis of separations of the split nuclei indicates that the comet broke up 132 +/- 7 days after perihelion, or about 1987 Aug 31 at a heliocentric distance of 2.3 AU. IAUC 4557 S PERSEI In response to the announcement on E-128, G.Hurst reports an observation on 1988 Mar 1 at 20.12UT when the star was estimated at magnitude 9.1, confirming the brightening reported earlier. Guy M Hurst