Edwin Goffin's original prediction indicates an event passing through the Tasman Sea, just off the coast of southern Tasmania and crossing northern New Zealand at low altitude.

NEW UPDATE (23 November 1998):

Jan Manek of the Stefanik Observatory, Prague has reduced astrometry (6 positions) from Bill Owen of Table Mountain Observatory against the HIPPARCOS position of the star (HIP 114795). The update track is almost identical to that obtained previously, except that the predicted time is now about 5.5 minutes later than previous. The updated track still crosses central New Zealand, although at low altitude (about ten degrees).

Predicted appulse times are:

• TASMANIA : 12h 58m UT
• WELLINGTON, NZ : 12h 59.5m UT

NOTE: Manek notes that Jupiter will be only about 1 degree distant from the target star.

IMPORTANT NOTE!

Astrometric updates such as these should not be taken as definitive, but rather only as an indication of where the true track may lie relative to the original predicted track. Observers must bear in mind that later astrometry, in which the target star is measured in the same field as the asteroid, may still reveal substantial changes to the predicted track and time of the event. For this reason it is most important that observers far from the predicted track still monitor the event.

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