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
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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