SMM 1 & 2
From IAUC 4621:
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 the 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.