THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 720 1993 Mar 28 17.20UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England. Telephone/FAX(0256)471074 Int:+44256471074 TELEX: 9312111261 Answerback: TA G TELECOM GOLD: 10074:MIK2885 GMH at UK.AC.RUTHERFORD.STARLINK.ASTROPHYSICS STARLINK: RLSAC::GMH GMH at UK.AC.CAM.ASTRONOMY.STARLINK STARLINK: CAVAD::GMH ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET MUELLER (1993d) Jean Mueller, Palomar Mountain Observatory, reports her discovery of a comet on a 75-min exposure obtained on Mar. 19 by J. D. Mendenhall and herself with the 1.2-m Oschin Schmidt telescope in the course of the second Palomar Sky Survey. The comet had a very obvious tail to the northwest. A confirmatory plate was taken on Mar. 24 by Mueller and C. Brewer through clouds. Mueller has measured the following positions: 1993 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Mar. 19.35903 13 01 45.39 +64 20 47.6 17 19.38507 13 01 44.55 +64 20 49.4 19.41112 13 01 43.92 +64 20 50.5 24.35938 12 58 12.31 +64 22 47.3 IAUC 5723 COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY (1993e) Cometary images have been discovered by C. S. Shoemaker, E. M. Shoemaker and D. H. Levy on films obtained with the 0.46-m Schmidt telescope at Palomar. The appearance was most unusual in that the comet appeared as a dense, linear bar about 1' long and oriented roughly east-west; no central condensation was observable, but a fainter, wispy 'tail' extended north of the bar and to the west. The object was confirmed two nights later in Spacewatch CCD scans by J. V. Scotti, who described the nuclear region as a long, narrow train about 47" in length and about 11" in width, aligned along p.a. 80-260 deg. At least five discernible condensations were visible within the train, the brightest being about 14" from the southwestern end. Dust trails extended 4'.20 in p.a. 74 deg and 6'.89 in p.a. 260 deg, roughly aligned with the ends of the train and measured from the midpoint of the train. Tails extended more than 1' from the nuclear train, the brightest component extending from the brightest condensation to 1'.34 in p.a. 286 deg. The measurements below refer to the midpoint of the bar or train. 1993 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer Mar. 24.35503 12 26 39.27 - 4 03 32.9 14 Shoemaker 24.43072 12 26 37.21 - 4 03 23.0 " 26.29531 12 25 42.24 - 3 57 55.7 13.9 Scotti 26.30479 12 25 42.09 - 3 57 53.7 16.7 " 26.31448 12 25 41.63 - 3 57 53.7 " 26.41291 12 25 38.70 - 3 57 34.8 " The comet is located some 4 deg from Jupiter, and the motion suggests that it may be near Jupiter's distance. IAUC 5725 SUPERNOVA 1993H IN ESO 445-G66 M. Hamuy, Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory; and J. Maza, University of Chile, report that M. Wischnjewsky has discovered a supernova 1" east and 12" north of the nucleus of the spiral galaxy ESO 445-G66 (R.A. = 13h49m58s, Decl. = -30d27'.9, equinox 1950.0). The supernova, of mpg about 16.5, was found on a 20-min unfiltered IIa-O plate taken by G. Valladares and R. Antezana with the CTIO Curtis Schmidt telescope on Mar. 18.20 UT. Confirmation was made by D.Geisler from CCD R and I images obtained on Mar. 21.275 with the CTIO 0.9-m telescope. IAUC 5723