THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 500 1991 Mar 26 20.36UT
Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke,
Hants, RG22 4PP, England. Telephone: (0256)471074 Int:+44256471074
Telex: 9312111261 Answerback: TA G JANET BOXES:
GMH at UK.AC.CAM.ASTRONOMY.STARLINK or GUYH at UK.AC.SUSSEX.CLUSTER
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NOVA HERCULIS 1991
Further to yesterday's announcement, the Central Bureau advise us
that Matsuo Sugano (Japan) independently discovered this nova which
he had recorded on a photograph of Mar 24.781UT at magnitude 5.4.
It is evident that George Alcock's discovery represented the first
known visual observation of the nova.
This is the fifth nova to be found by Alcock (excluding independent
discovery of an outburst of RS Oph in 1985) and is in addition to
five comet discoveries. George reports that since the beginning of
1989 he has logged 553 hours 38 minutes of observing time.
Rob McNaught, Australia, e-mails that he has secured a precise
position from a 10 second exposure with the Uppsala:
RA 18h44m11.83s DEC +12 10'45.0"(1950)
He has checked the Palomar Sky Survey and finds the nearest
candidates are:
Star 1 mag approx 19 18h44m12.05s DEC +12 10 44.3 (1950)
2 14 18 44 11.67 +12 10 52.0
3 16 18 44 11.92 +12 10 52.1 (partly obscured
by star 2)
He adds that there is no blue star near the nova's position but
that star 1 is somewhat brighter on the red print than the blue.
Further estimates:
Mar 25.67, 6.5 (McNaught); 25.80, 6.6 (McNaught); 26.13, 7.1
(Alan Pickup, Edinburgh).
The initial comparison stars are labelled and based on the AAVSO
Atlas values:
Star Mag Object
A 3.0 zeta Aql
B 4.0 epsilon Aql
C 5.4 Double near zeta
D 5.9 North of C
E 6.8 Preceding KO Aql
F 7.0 North of KO Aql
G 7.5 Following KO Aql
H 8.2 North preceding VW Aql
J 9.0 Due north of VW Aql
Sequence reference: TA 910325
DX AND
An unconfirmed report has been received from Finland by Martin
Mobberley of a possible outburst of this star. Professional
astronomers urgently need further estimates and previous
negative results to assess the present activity,
Guy M Hurst