COMET COMMENTS
By Don Machholz

	A new comet has been recently discovered in the southern sky.  
Meanwhile, Comet Hale-Bopp continues to dim in the southern sky.  Both 
comets will be briefly visible to many Northern Hemisphere observers in 
a few months.

	The new comet was discovered by Vello Tabur of Australia on July 2.  
He used an 8-inch f/4.7 reflector to find the tenth magnitude object, 
which was situated in the morning sky, far south of the sun and out of 
view of Northern Hemisphere observers.  It was Tabur who had made the last 
visual discovery-nearly a year ago.  Comet Tabur (C/1997 N1) will appear 
in the evening sky for northern observers in early September.

	The solar-orbiting satellite SOHO has picked up five additional 
small comets as they headed toward the sun.  Most of the 17 comets found 
by the satellite belong to the Kreutz Sungrazing Group, all were faint 
and seen only by the satellite.  Most disappeared as they rounded the sun.


COMET HUNTING NOTES: With Tabur's find, six of the last seven visually-
discovered comets have been found south of the celestial equator; and 
14 of the last 17 visually-discovered comets have been found in the 
morning sky.


EPHEMERIDES

C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)
Date(00UT) 	R.A. (2000) 	Dec	  El	Sky	Mag
07-11		06h54.6m	-05o16'	  28o	M	  3.9
07-16		07h01.0m	-07o05'	  30o	M	  4.1
07-21		07h07.1m	-08o55'	  32o	M	  4.3
07-26		07h13.0m	-10o45'	  35o	M	  4.4
07-31		07h18.8m	-12o36'	  37o	M	  4.6
08-05		07h24.3m	-14o28'	  39o	M	  4.7
08-10		07h29.6m	-16o21'	  42o	M	  4.9
08-15		07h34.7m	-18o16'	  45o	M	  5.0
08-20		07h39.5m	-20o13'	  47o	M	  5.1
08-25		07h44.1m	-22o11'	  50o	M	  5.3
08-30		07h48.4m	-24o11'	  52o	M	  5.4
09-04		07h52.4m	-26o12'	  55o	M	  5.5
09-09		07h56.2m	-28o15'	  58o	M	  5.6

C/1997 N1 (Tabur)
Date(00UT)	 R.A. (2000) 	Dec	  El	Sky	Mag
07-11		05h49.7m	-23o37'	 51o	 M	  9.0
07-16		06h27.9m	-20o34'	 46o	 M	  8.5
07-21		07h05.0m	-16o50'	 40o	 M	  8.0
07-26		07h40.1m	-12o30'	 34o	 M	  7.5
07-31		08h12.7m	-07o39'	 27o	 M	  6.9
08-05		08h42.8m	-02o21'	 20o	 M	  6.2
08-10		09h10.9m	+03o24'	 12o	 M	  5.7
08-15		09h37.7m	+09o31'	  5o	 M	  5.5
08-20		10h04.2m	+15o35'	  4o	 E	  5.8
08-25		10h31.1m	+21o08'	 11o	 E	  6.4
08-30		10h59.0m	+25o56'	 18o	 E	  7.1
09-04		11h28.5m	+29o58'	 24o	 E	  7.8
09-09		11h59.7m	+33o15'	 30o	 E	  8.4


ELEMENTS

Object:			Hale-Bopp 		Tabur
Peri. Date:		1997 04 01.13800	1997 08 15.24722
Peri. Dist (AU):	0.9141405 AU		0.3832189 AU
Arg/Peri (2000):	130.58915 deg.		345.44824 deg.
Asc. Node (2000):	282.47069 deg.		148.24000 deg
Incl (2000):		089.42943 deg.		086.40198 deg
Eccen:			0.9951172		1.0
Orbital Period:		~2500 years		Long Period?
Ref:			MPC 29568		IAU Cir. 6694
Epoch:			1997 06 01		1997 08 15
Absol.	 Mag/"n":	-1.0/4.0		9.0/4.0

CC228.WEB	07-08-97		Don Machholz    (916) 346-8963
DonM353259@aol.com.
Web Page: 
http://members.aol.com/cometcom/index.html