From: TerryMosel@aol.com Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 09:21:17 EST Subject: Comet + 2 TV Progs Hi all, Comet Ikeya-Zhang is brightening a bit faster than predicted, and is already about magnitude 7.5, and should reach naked eye visibility by early March. The preliminary elements given in my email of 5 Feb (from the IAU Circular) were not quite accurate, but are still probably close enough for locating the comet for the next few days. I will circulate new elements when the latest calculations are available. In the meantime, here's a revised ephemeris covering the next week or so. Positions are given for both the old 1950 and the new 2000 co-ordinates. Mag = total integrated visual magnitude; D = comet's distance from Earth in AU's; R = comet's distance from Sun in AU's (1 AU = 93 million miles); Elong = angular elongation from the Sun in degrees. February 2002. Positions for 00:00 UT on the double date given. Day R.A. 1950 Dec R.A. 2000 Dec Mag D R Elong 9/10 0 21.8 -13.16 0 24.4 -12.59 7.5 1.45 0.96 41 10/11 0 23.7 -12.41 0 26.2 -12.25 7.4 1.43 0.94 41 11/12 0 25.5 -12.06 0 28.1 -11.49 7.2 1.42 0.92 40 12/13 0 27.4 -11.30 0 30.0 -11.14 7.1 1.41 0.91 40 13/14 0 29.3 -10.53 0 31.9 -10.37 7.0 1.39 0.89 39 14/15 0 31.3 -10.16 0 33.8 -09.59 6.8 1.38 0.87 39 15/16 0 33.2 -09.38 0 35.8 -09.21 6.7 1.36 0.86 39 16/17 0 35.2 -08.59 0 37.7 -08.42 6.5 1.35 0.84 38 17/18 0 37.2 -08.19 0 39.7 -08.02 6.4 1.33 0.82 38 18/19 0 39.2 -07.38 0 41.7 -07.21 6.2 1.32 0.81 38 There are also two TV progs which may be of interest: 1. Tonight, Sunday, "Accidents in Space", BBC1, 23.40 - 00.30. Accounts of the various USA & Russian fatal accidents in spacecraft. (Followed by the film "Trapped in Space" about a 'Shuttle' en route to Venus which gets damaged by an asteroid. No comment, as I don't know what it's like.) 2. Thursday 14, HORIZON, BBC1, 21.00 - 21.50: "Parallel Universes" About the new cosmology theories (TOE, etc).
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