THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 176 1988 July 03 10.09UT. 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------- NOVA ANDROMEDAE 1988 Brian Marsden comments on IAUC 4620: "Information received some weeks ago indicates that a spectrogram was obtained of Dave McAdam's variable in Andromeda (IAUC 4570, 4577,4579) with the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope, La Palma, on Apr 1, but various computer problems have prevented recovery of the data. A preliminary inspection of the object's spectrum at the time apparently showed the presence of strong O III emission. Referring to the measurements of the position of the object (IAUC 4577), G. M. Hurst, Basingstoke, England, reports that B. Manning, Stakenbridge, has obtained the following position (a three-star SAOC reduction from a Palomar Sky Survey print) for Hurst's pre-outburst candidate: R.A. = 2h26m22s.18, Decl. = +39D49'17".4 (equinox 1950.0). No image appears on the Franklin-Adams chart (1908 Dec. 28) to mag 15. Although the absence of more definite observations is unfortunate, it seems reasonable to suppose that the object was a nova." IAUC 4620 Editor: Congratulations to Dave from the whole of our group on a fine achievement. This is the fourth nova found by the patrol, the others being: 1) HS Sagittae by John Hosty on 1977 Jan 7. (IAUC 3025). 2) Nova Cen 1986 by Rob McNaught on 1986 Nov 22. (IAUC 4274). 3) Nova Sgr 1987 by Rob McNaught on 1987 May 18. (IAUC 4397). The first by John Hosty remains the only one to be discovered visually. PROBABLE SUNGRAZING COMETS Images of two comets rapidly approaching the sun have been found in data from the Solar Maximum Mission Coronagraph/Polarimeter by Sharon A. Beck, High Altitude Observatory, Boulder. The following positions, communicated by O. C. St. Cyr, Chief Observer for the HAO C/P, have been reduced from her measurements by the SMM Flight Dynamics Facility at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: 1987 UT R.A. (1950) Decl. Oct. 5.90863 12 38 36 - 4 57.0 (SMM 1) 5.97406 12 40 55 - 4 50.4 Oct. 17.81405 13 22 41 - 9 38.4 (SMM 2) 17.87947 13 24 38 - 9 31.2 SMM 1 is very roughly estimated at mag 0 and SMM 2 at mag -2. The measurements refer to the positions of the 'head', i.e., the sunward end of bright cometary tails. The radial distances were estimated to be accurate to +/- 0.1 solar radius and the position angle to +/- 0.1 deg. A third image of SMM 2 was obtained on Oct. 17.94491 UT, but the head was obscured by an electronic artifact that appears in the coronagraph images. The comets could not be subsequently detected as they receded from the sun. Computations by B. G. Marsden, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, show it to be very probable that, like the six SOLWIND comets, the SMM comets belong to the Kreutz group. The positions of both SMM 1 and SMM 2 can in fact be represented within 2' by the track of comet 1843 I. A somewhat better fit, leaving residuals of no more than 0'.8, is given by the Kreutz-type orbital elements Peri. = 81.0, Node = 1.2, i = 144.3 (equinox 1950.0), q = 0.0057 AU, with the perihelion times T = 1987 Oct. 6.07 and 1987 Oct. 18.01 ET for SMM 1 and SMM 2, respectively. IAUC 4621 AY LYRAE John Isles, Cyprus e-mails that the star did not undergo a supermax as predicted on E-173. V482 CYGNI John Isles reports the following magnitudes: June 27.03, 13.1; 28.05, [13.5. Observations of this decline are URGENTLY required. TA INDEX We welcome Frank Weissferdt of Germany to our group. His mailbox number is MAG36440. Guy M Hurst