THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 206 1988 Oct 06 20.27UT. Telecom Gold 72:MAG60138 Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16, Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP, England. Telephone:(0256)471074.Int:+44256471074 Telex:265871(MONREF G) Quote"72:MAG60138 ATT G.HURST"in FIRST line. ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET 1988m (SMM 4) O.C.St.Cyr, Solar Maximum Mission, reports that D.Kobe and C.Waugh have discovered a mag -3 comet on 1988 Aug 21 with the white-light corongraph/polarimeter aboard the Solar Maximum Mission. The object is presumably a sungrazer and was not seen after perhelion. Marsden suggests the orbit is similar to Comet 1843I: T=1988 Aug 21.82ET, Peri=82.5; Node=3.0; Incl=144.4, q=0.0058AU. IAUC 4660 3C 446 Brian Manning (Stakenbridge) reports that on a photo taken on 1988 Sept 30.84UT the quasar appears at mag 16.0 and NON-STELLAR with estimated diameter 5-6" compared with star images of 3". There is no evidence of this on a copy of the Palomar Sky Survey field. Details of position appeared on E191. Further photography is required. HT CAS and IP PEG A request has been received via STARLINK from professional astronomers in La Palma and Tenerife for daily monitoring of: HT Cas RA 01h07m00s DEC +59 48.1'(1950) 12.60-19.32V P=70d? IP Peg 23 20 39 +18 08.7 12.0-18.6B HT Cas was last seen bright on 1987 Feb 10 at mag 13.2 but great care is needed as there is a mag 13 companion and the TA chart should be used. The GCVS period is in error. IP Peg was seen at mag 14.8 on Aug 21 but last recorded bright on 1987 Nov 19 at mag 12.0. If either star is seen in outburst please telephone the Editor immediately. This is part of a new cooperative programme involving cataclysmic variables full details of which will be announced later. a photo taken on 1988 Sept 30.84UT the quasar appears at mag 16.0 and NON-STELLAR with estimated -------------- Sun Oct 9 12:56:29 1988 --------------- MAIL MAG60138 AR SU SEPT NOVA PATROL Guy, Below are my nova patrol results for September. As you can see I have switched from Kodak Tri-X film to Kodak T-Max 400 (TMY). This film certainly has a finer grain structure but appears to be rather more sensitive to light pollution than the older film. As a result of this I have ordered a Lumicon deep sky filter from The States which should arrive in a few weeks. Martin is trying to convince me that it will be impounded at Heathrow! A further possible disaster is that near to the weekend of the anniversary of the great Nova Vul87 fiasco I shall be out of the country and unable to perform nova patrols for a few days. Expect a nova to be discovered on the night of 9th November. Regards Nick. at mag 12.0. If either star is seen in outburst please teleph To: DAVID_MCADAM (MAG11851) Cc: STORM.DUNLOP (MAG100665) Cc: THE_ASTRONOMER1 (MAG60138) Cc: JAMES.N.D (MAG90713) From: SUTHERLAND.P (MAG31707) Delivered: Sun 9-Oct-88 14:01 BST Sys 10072 (36) Subject: Yale Mail Id: IPM-10072-881009-126191028 Thank you for your interest in the star catalogue. Following an E-mail message from Storm Dunlop I have spoken to David Briggs, who has apparently been working hard to improve the Yale Catalogue, by adding extra stars and by condensing a lot of the information it contains. (I believe the Yale quotes positions for two epochs, for example). The result should be far more manageable and fit on many fewer disks. David, who has an Archimedes, plans to make his version available in ASCII text form, so that it could be used on any computer. However, he says he will also be adding programs for the popular machines so that the information can be acccessed like a database. I gather he is also working on a graphics extension for certain computers so that maps can be drawn up from the database for any part of the sky. David (tel: 0705 455926) will make his catalogue commercially available when it is finally completed, but it sounds as if it might be better to wait for this than the more unwieldy version in the Public Domain. What do others think? lowing an E-mail message from St -------------- Sun Oct 9 22:48:27 1988 --------------- MAIL MAG31707 CC MAG11851 MAG100665 MAG60138 AR SU YALE CATALOG Dear Paul, A few points on arising from your last message. i) Can Dave Briggs give us some idea of when his condensed catalogue will be available and the expected cost. ii) I am worried that there might be a loss of information and accuracy in this derived catalogue. Also it is important that any newly added stars are clearly indicated and their source cited. On balance I would prefer to go for the original public domain Yale Catalog since we can presumably be sure of its accuracy. As far as I'm concerned memory is no problem but I realise that it may be different for others. Since the original catalogue is in ASCII most people should be able to compress it substantially for their machines by using numeric rather than character representations wherever possible. Thanks very much for your efforts, Nick. r he is also working on a graphi From: THE_ASTRONOMER1 (MAG60138) Delivered: Mon 10-Oct-88 20:18 BST Sys 10072 (33) Subject: THE ASTRONOMER URGENT Mail Id: IPM-10072-881010-182830770 THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 207 1988 Oct 10 18.57UT. Telecom Gold 72:MAG60138 Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16, Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP, England. Telephone:(0256)471074.Int:+44256471074 Telex:265871(MONREF G) Quote"72:MAG60138 ATT G.HURST"in FIRST line. ------------------------------------------------------------------- AY LYRAE John Isles, Cyprus e-mails that this UGSU type variable located at RA 18h42m43s DEC +37 57.2'(1950) is undergoing a super-maximum as the following visual estimates indicate: Oct 5.69,[12.9; 7.72, 13.1; 9.70, 12.5. V503 CYGNI AAVSO Circular 214 received today contains a chart for this UG star located at: RA 20h25m33s DEC +43 31.8'(1950) The GCVS has a range of 13.4-17.0p. However the chart footnote mentions that identification is uncertain and gives two possible positions. Copies of the chart can be supplied on e-mail request and we would like e-mail advice if an object is seen at either position so that we can arrange photography to resolve the problem and prepare a TA chart. 3C 446 Further to the note on E-206, the negatives by Brian Manning have now arrived and the nebulous nature of the image seems definite unless this is due to some film fault. Photographs of the quasar are urgently required to investigate this very important development. The position is: RA 22h23m11s DEC -05 12'18"(1950) Cyprus e-mails that this UGSU type variable located at RA 18h42m43s DEC +37 57.2'(19 To: STORM.DUNLOP (MAG100665) To: SUTHERLAND.P (MAG31707) To: THE_ASTRONOMER1 (MAG60138) To: JAMES.N.D (MAG90713) From: DAVID_MCADAM (MAG11851) Delivered: Tue 11-Oct-88 22:21 BST Sys 10072 (18) Subject: YALE Mail Id: IPM-10072-881011-201261100 Dear Paul, I am still interested in getting a copy of the original Yale catalogue, if possible. I would be prepared to pay around a third of the 24 pounds if there are, say, three or more people who want it. I prefer to write my own software and have various sequences for plotting starfields so would not be interested in a commercialised version. Conversion of the ASCII files could be done with the two respective machines connected via RS232 (RS423 on BBC). ie: a "null modem". Perhaps others who are interested could perform the conversion at a nominal charge? I would be grateful if you can let me know what the position is. Regards, Dave s that identification is uncertain and gives two possible po From: THE_ASTRONOMER1 (MAG60138) Delivered: Thu 13-Oct-88 20:48 BST Sys 10072 (22) Subject: THE ASTRONOMER URGENT Mail Id: IPM-10072-881013-187290309 THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 208 1988 Oct 13 19.34UT. Telecom Gold 72:MAG60138 Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16, Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP, England. Telephone:(0256)471074.Int:+44256471074 Telex:265871(MONREF G) Quote"72:MAG60138 ATT G.HURST"in FIRST line. ------------------------------------------------------------------- NOVA IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD 1988 No. 2 R. H. McNaught, Siding Spring Observatory, reports the discovery by Gordon Garradd, Tamworth, N.S.W, of another nova in the LMC. An exposure by McNaught on Oct. 13.5 UT with the Uppsala Southern Schmidt telescope yields the following position: R.A. = 5h08m14.02 Decl. = -68 41'22.6 (equinox 1950.0; rms 0".2). Magnitude estimates by Garradd (300-mm telephoto lens + hypered 2415 film) and McNaught (visual): Oct. 7.49, [14.5 (Garradd); 12.48, 11.3 (Garradd); 12.49, 11.3 (Garradd); 13.40, 10.4 (McNaught). Garradd notes that the nova is very close to HV 5609, as plotted on the Hodge/Wright atlas. A photograph of the LMC taken 1988 Oct. 7.72 by M. Hartley with the U.K. Schmidt Telescope shows no change to V magnitude 19 in the general vicinity of the nova. IAUC 4663 Guy M Hurst