MOTION OF COMET-45P HONDA-MRKOS-PAJDUSAKOVA

We collected 96 astrometric observations to link the seven apparitions of the comet observed during 1948-1990. We had to take into account a nongravitational acceleration in the comet's motion when integrating the equations of motion by the recurrent power series. To include the nongravitational terms into equations of motion we applied two models of the rotating and precessing cometary nucleus: 1) with a linear prec ession, 2) with a forced precession; we also took into account an asym metric activity of the comet with respect to perihelion. We obtained a satisfactory solution with the forced precession model, linking all t he observations of the comet with the mean RMS residual equal to 1''.4 1. Variation of the angular parameters of the rotating nucleus is pres ented graphically. Evolution of orbital elements of the comet during 1 948-1995 is given in a table; in March 1983 the comet approached Jupit er to within 0.111 a.u.