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                  THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA
                STANDING COMMITTEE ON OBSERVATIONAL ACTIVITIES

                           COMET AND NOVA SECTION

                                                       Announcement No. 15
COMET IKEY-SEKI 1967n

For the next few months, this comet will be well placed for observations from Canada.
It is bright enough to be seen with binoculars and small telescopes, and will be circum-
polar for most Canadian observers from early March until mid June. The following
ephemeris is from Circular 2054 of the International Astronomical Union:

      1968    R.A.(1950)  Dec.    Mag.          1968     R.A.(1950)  Dec.   Mag.
                h  m      °   '                            h  m      °   '
     Feb. 29   17 16.0   42 02 N               Apr.  6    07 56.7   84 26 N 7.5
     Mar.  5   17 17.5   49 14    6.9                7    07 38.7   83 28
          10   17 17.7   56 51                       8    07 25.8   82 30   7.5
          15   17 15.7   64 36    6.9                9    07 16.4   81 32
          20   17 08.8   72 13                      14    06 53.0   76 56   7.7
          25   16 48.2   79 23    7.1               19    06 45.3   72 50
          26   16 40.0   80 43                      24    06 42.8   69 14   8.1
          27   16 29.0   82 01    7.2               29    06 42.8   66 04
          28   16 13.8   83 17                 May   4    06 44.1   63 16   8.5
          29   15 52.1   84 28    7.2                9    06 46.1   60 49
          30   15 20     85 32                      14    06 48.6   58 38   8.9
          31   14 29     86 27    7.3               19    06 51.3   56 41
     Apr.  1   13 13     87 04                      24    06 54.3   54 57   9.2
           2   11 35     87 14    7.3               29    06 57.4   53 23
           3   10 06     86 54                 June  3    07 00.6   51 59   9.5
           4   09 04     86 13    7.4                8    07 03.9   50 43
           5   08 23     85 22 N                    13    07 07.1   49 33 N 9.8

This comet will pass rear the bright stars: BETA Dra on March 7; ZETA Dra on March 16;
POLARIS on April 2.

From recent observations made by Rick Lavery of the Ottawa Centre, it appears that Comet
Ikeya-Seki may be a few tenths of a magnitude fainter than predicted. Visually, the
comet appears as a nebulous object with little or no tail.


NOVA DELPHINI 1967 The discovery of this unusual nova was reported on C & N Announce-
ment No.13. Since last July, the magnitude has varied between three and six, and Rick
Lavery of Ottawa reported it near fifth magnitude about the middle of February. The
position of this nova is:
              R A. 20h 40m 04s    Dec. 18°58.'9 N  Epoch 1950.0

GENERA ASSEMBLY 1968 - The Comet and Nova Section plans to have a display at the
General Assembly in Calgary on May 17-20. If you have made observations of the above
objects, please send reports to the undersigned for consideration.


                                                     Jim Low, National Coordinator,
                                                     Comet and Nova Section,
                                                     Box 172,
                                                     AMF Postal Station,
                                                     Montreal International Airport,
February 29, 1968.                                   Dorval, P.Q.