THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 558 1991 Sept 1 10.00UT 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 TELECOM GOLD: 10074:MIK2885 PRESTEL 256471074 ------------------------------------------------------------------- NOVA SCUTI 1991 (Q1991/76) Rob McNaught, Anglo-Australian Observatory, e-mails that Paul Camilleri of Cobram, Victoria, Australia has discovered a possible nova using a 135mm lens and T-Max 400 film at: RA 18h 44.4m DEC -08 24' (1950). Magnitude estimates by Camilleri: 1991 Aug 8.604UT, [12; 30.468, 10.5; 31.38, 10.5 visual. It is situated about 2' west of a mag 12 star. No image appears on Atlas Stellarum. In response to an alert issued on STARLINK to selected observers, Martin Mobberley, Cockfield, Bury St Edmunds successfully photographed the object on Aug 31 (20.40-20.50UT and 20.50-21.00UT T-Max 400) confirming it was not on Atlas Stellarum. From a telephone description provided by the editor of a nearby field and AAVSO sequence of V368 Sct (Nova 1970) (which also appears on the negatives), Martin estimated the new object at magnitude 11.2pv. Gary Poyner, Birmingham, also confirmed the new object visually on Aug 31.958UT at approximately magnitude 10.8 (0.44-m reflector class 3 haze), again by reference to the V368 Sct sequence. Rob McNaught has further reported a position for the object from a 10 second exposure with the Uppsala Southern Schnidt on Aug 31.54UT RA 18h 44m 26.58s DEC -08 24' 12.0" (1950). He mentions that a nearby star of magnitude 13 has end figures of 27.18s, 25'47.1". No star appears in the position of the nova on the first POSS blue or red surveys. In a subsequent note on IAUC 5332 he provides estimates from UK Schmidt plates: 1980 Sept 6, R=20; 1981 May 3 J=21; 1984 Aug 23 R=20. An I plate taken on 1980 Sept 4 records the prenova slightly more prominently, compared to surrounding stars, than the R plate taken two nights later, suggesting that the prenova is a red star. The coordinates measured from a film copy of the 1984 R plate have end figures 26.58s, 12.5" (uncertainty 0.2" RA and 0.3" Dec). The nearby mag 13 star gave measures identical to those above, and a mag 16 star close to the nova has end figures 26.86s, 6.4". Guy M Hurst