William A. Bradfield (Australia) discovered his 14th comet on 1989 January 6.5. He estimated the magnitude as 12 and described it as diffuse and uncondensed. Bradfield added that the comet was moving very rapidly.
Historical Highlights
The first orbit was determined by D. Herald and published on January 9. It was parabolic and used 8 positions determined from the 6th to the 9th. The perihelion date was given as 1988 December 5, and the perihelion distance was 0.415 AU. A revised orbit determined by Herald and published on January 13 indicated a perihelion date of December 5.48 and a perihelion distance of 0.427 AU.
A photo by R. D. McNaught on January 13 using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt revealed the coma extended toward PA 110 degrees.