THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 588       1991 Dec 21 19.34UT
Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise,  Basingstoke,
Hants, RG22 4PP,England. Telephone/FAX(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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SUPERNOVA 1991bh IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
Jean Mueller reports her discovery, on a 1.2-m Oschin Schmidt
plate taken by J. D. Mendenhall and herself on Dec. 7 during the
course of the second Palomar Sky Survey, of a supernova (blue
magnitude 18) located 5".4 east and 17" south of the centre of an
anonymous galaxy that has coordinates R.A. = 2h42m16s.2, Decl. =
+14 57'13".4 (equinox 1950.0).  A spectrogram obtained on Dec. 13
by R. Weymann and S. Morris at the 5-m Hale telescope (+ double
spectrograph) confirms the object as a supernova.
IAUC 5401

T LEONIS
Patrick Schmeer, Germany e-mails further results on this star
(cf E585):
1991 Dec 13.097UT, 11.8; 15.172, 11.4; 15.238, 10.9; 16.047, 10.3
16.085, 10.3.

E-INDEX
We welcome Luciano Bittesini of Italy to our group.
He can be contacted via JANET using:
CBS%SPAN-RELAY::"38441::BITTESINI"
and also via STARLINK/SPAN using:
38441::BITTESINI

PERIODIC COMET TSUCHINSHAN 2 (1991e1)
J. Scotti, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, reports the recovery
of this comet on images obtained with the 0.91-m Spacewatch
telescope by D. Rabinowitz and himself:
     1991 UT             R.A. (1950) Decl.        m2
     Dec.  3.21335    3 08 52.09   +26 31 10.2   21.2
           3.23212    3 08 51.10   +26 31 02.7   20.6
           3.25032    3 08 49.97   +26 30 54.8   21.0
          13.29695    3 01 11.38   +25 23 00.8   21.7
          13.31132    3 01 10.86   +25 22 54.8   21.0
          13.32596    3 01 10.14   +25 22 48.4   21.5

The Dec. 3.25 image is apparently influenced by that of a faint
star.  The comet appears stellar, to the limits of seeing, and the
position is in close agreement with the prediction on MPC 14593
(ephemeris on MPC 18469).  The m2 values are V magnitudes.
IAUC 5403

SUPERNOVA 1991bi IN NGC 5127
Christian Pollas, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, reports his
discovery, on Schmidt plates taken Dec. 13.2 and 14.2 UT, of a
supernova (magnitude Bj = 18.5) located 13" west and 6" south of
the centre of the elliptical galaxy NGC 5127 (R.A. = 13h21m.44,
Decl. = +31 49'.6, equinox 1950.0).  Nothing appears at the
position of the supernova either on similar plates taken two years
ago or on the Palomar Sky Survey images.
A. V. Filippenko, T. Matheson, M. Cyrot, and A. Hammond, University
of California at Berkeley, report that inspection of uncalibrated
CCD spectra (range 390-990 nm, resolution 1 nm), obtained on
Dec. 14 UT with the Shane 3-m reflector at Lick Observatory, shows
that the object is a type-Ia supernova, probably a few weeks past
maximum brightness.
IAUC 5404

Guy M Hurst