NEW EDITION OF THE CATALOG OF SHORT-PERIOD COMETS

The Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in St. Petersburg and the Astro nomical Institute in Bratislava are preparing a new edition of the Cat alogue of short-period comets. This edition will be supplemented by sh ort-period comets discovered after the year 1983 and comprises some ne w features, e. g. the evolution of orbital elements between the gears 1750 and 2050, and the perihelion passages of comets within the 1994-2 050 years. A new method has been employed for the determination of non gravitational parameters from the osculating elements of a comet based on all its observed returns. The method has been tested on the comets P/Comas Sola and P/Forbes with all returns, except the last one. The results have been compared with the osculating elements of the last re turn and those used in the old edition of the Catalogue of short-perio d comets. The new method enables a good prediction of osculating eleme nts for the future, at least for the next return.