Discovery image of comet 55P/1997 E1 (TEMPEL-TUTTLE) taken at the Keck II 10 meter telescope on Manua Kea. The image was taken by a team of astronomers including K. J. Meech, O. R. Hainaut and J. Bauer. The LRIS CCD camera was used. Some interference from clouds occurred, but the comet was clearly visible as a point source. No coma yet. The image profile was similar to stars. The seeing was 0".8. The magnitude estimate below is a crude R estimate using a 5" diaphragm. O. R. Hainaut reported these measurements of the recovery images of the comet associated with the Leonid meteors (from IAUC6579):
1997 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m2 Observer Mar. 4.62838 13 43 12.63 + 4 43 37.7 22.5 Meech 4.637 13 43 12.31 + 4 43 41.7 " 4.64876 13 43 11.57 + 4 43 49.0 " 4.65752 13 43 11.07 + 4 43 54.4 "