THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 630 1992 Apr 22 19.59UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- HV VIRGINIS Further to the announcement on E629, Patrick Schmeer, Germany made the following first ever visual sighting of this star as follows: 1992 Apr 19.917UT, [13.2; 20.928, 12.0; 20.965, 11.9; 21.053, 11.7; 21.849,11.7. In response to the worldwide alerts issued by TA, various confirmations were obtained as follows: P.M.Kilmartin at Mount John Observatory in New Zealand has e-mailed that Alan Gilmore confirmed the presence of a star of V=11.5 with nova-like colours on Apr 21.4UT. Subsequently they have sent us a precise position: RA 13h18m30.22s DEC +02 09'10.1"[1950].Haakon Dahle, Oslo, Norway observed the star on Apr. 21.881UT at 11.6v (relayed by Bjorn Granslo). A.Cadez, T.Zwitter, B.Dintinjana and H.Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory, Slovenia report recording the object at approximately magnitude 12 on several frames obtained around Apr 21.98UT with the 0.36-m reflector + 574x384 CCD. Ornulf Midtskogen, Norway faxes confirmation of the outburst seen on Apr 21.913UT at 11.8 using 0.32-m f5 reflector x63. Terry Platt, Binfield, England has faxed a CCD frame showing HV Vir at approximately magnitude 12.0 obtained Apr 22.119UT with a 0.2-m f5 reflector + ICx027CCD. H.Schneller first detected the object, formerly known as NSV 06201 and Nova Vir 1929 on plates: 1929 Feb 1, 11:; 3, 12.5 and not seen Feb 9. Duerbeck obtained additional data from photos: 1929 Jan 20, [12.7; 23, [10.4; Feb 4/5, 12.4; 7/8, 13.0. No other outbursts have been reported until the current event. Announcement of the outburst appeared on IAUC 5502. We extend our congratulations to Patrick Schmeer on securing observations of such a rare event and thank the various people worldwide who responded to our request for assistance. PERIODIC COMET MUELLER 4 (1992g) Computations by Brian Marsden from the available observations, Apr. 9-14, show that this comet (cf E628) is of short period: T = 1992 Jan. 27.560 TT Peri. = 37.481 e = 0.40498 Node = 146.151 2000.0 q = 2.62296 AU Incl. = 30.082 a = 4.40815 AU n = 0.106492 P = 9.26 years IAUC 5497/5498 It is currently fading below magnitude 17. Guy M Hurst