THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 225 1988 Dec 10 12.29UT. 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------- LA PALMA PROJECT Herman Mikuz, Yugoslavia telexes that SU UMa was observed in outburst on Dec 8 at 22.15UT when the magnitude was 11.8. The message was relayed to La Palma and Phil Charles has responded via STARLINK confirming the outburst. Tom Saville (73:TTI107) advises that results in this month's TA also show a maximum on Nov 25-26 at 12.5 followed by a fade to 14.4. Other outbursts are reported at 12.2 on Nov 12-13 and a very faint event at 13.0 on Nov 2 only. SOVIET SPACESTATION MIR David Moore, President Irish Astronomical Society e-mails: "Here in Ireland the Irish Astronomical Society has a programme to observe and publicise evening passes of the Mir space station. Perhaps members of the email group might like notification of favourable passes of this satellite which I have seen reach magnitude -1? Here are times for Dublin. Owing to the fact that Mir's orbital inclination is 51.6 degrees it will always be travelling more or less West to East and so the time difference from Dublin, Ireland is the only important factor and as Mir moves at nearly 300 miles/minute it reaches the Greenwich meridian only 1 minute after crossing that of Dublin. Times are likely to be accurate to a couple of minutes so anyone in the British Isles will see Mir within the same 5 minute interval anyway. Predictions in the format: Date, Dir, Alt, Range, U.T. Dec 10, S, 55, 440km, 17:45 Dec 11, S, 40, 560km, 18:11 Dec 12, S, 55, 440km, 17:02 also, SW, 25, 830km, 18:37 Dec 13, SW, 35, 580km, 17:28 A PC program MIRWATCH was used to calculate these times. The latest orbital elements (which change at least weekly) and this program are available on the Dublin computer bulletin board DUBBS (Tel. 0001 885634 from UK 300-2400bps) - see TA E-Circular No. 150. Very accurate predictions for anywhere in the world can be produced using this and other material on DUBBS." Guy M Hurst