THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 639       1992 May 21 20.09UT
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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EDITORIAL ABSENCE
I shall be away and not contactable direct between Saturday May 23
06.00UT and Monday May 25 when I return about 21.00UT. During this
time urgent messages will be relayed by Martin Mobberley. Please
send to my usual mailboxes but with a copy to Martin at either:
10087:YQQ594 (Telecom Gold) or cbs%uk.ac.sussex.cluster::mafa2
(JANET).

COMET SPACEWATCH (1992h)
Preliminary parabolic orbital elements by B. G. Marsden, Center for
Astrophysics, from 13 observations May 1-4:
     T = 1993 Sept. 7.648 TT          Peri. =  80.639
                                      Node  = 203.265   2000.0
     q = 3.15511 AU                   Incl. = 125.125
IAUC 5513
The comet is fading below mag 18.

HV VIRGINIS
P. Szkody and D. Ingram, University of Washington, report:
"Time-resolved CCD photometry of the very-large-outburst-amplitude
dwarf nova HV Vir on Apr. 30.34-30.42 and on May 1.20-1.25 and
1.34-1.42 UT with the 1.8-m ARC telescope indicate superhumps of
0.2 mag amplitude and period of 84.1 +/- 0.4 min.  The V magnitude
was about 13.4 and indicates that the object is declining from out-
burst.  Since the superhump period is a few percent longer than the
orbital period, HV Vir increases the correlation of large-outburst
amplitude with orbital periods below the period gap for high galac-
tic latitude dwarf novae (Howell and Szkody 1990, Ap.J. 356, 623);
11 of the 12 with known orbital periods are now below the gap."
IAUC 5516

SUPERNOVAE 1992W, 1992X, 1992Y
Jean Mueller reports her discovery of three supernovae on plates
taken with the 1.2-m Oschin Telescope in the course of the second
Palomar Sky Survey.  SN 1992W was at mag about 18 on a red plate
taken by J. D. Mendenhall and Mueller on Apr. 28; the supernova is
located 24" west and 32" north of the center of MCG +08-23-096
(R.A. = 12h48m.0, Decl. = +48 22', equinox 1950.0).  SN 1992X was
at also mag about 18 on a red plate taken by C. Brewer and
Mendenhall on May 2; the supernova is located 2" west and 7"
south of the center of MCG +06-32-024 (R.A. = 14h22m09s, Decl. =
+35 22'.0).  W. Sargent and T. Small confirmed SNe 1992W and 1992X
with spectrograms obtained May 9 at the Hale 5-m telescope
(+ double spectrograph).  SN 1992Y in NGC 3527 (R.A. = 11h04m.5,
Decl. = +28 48') was at mag 18.5-19 on a blue plate taken May 2 by
Brewer and Mendenhall. SN 1992Y is located 13" east and 6" south of
the galaxy's nucleus; no image is present at this location on
prints from the original Palomar Sky Survey.
IAUC 5517

NOVA CYGNI 1992
Recent results suggest that this nova has stopped fading. The
apparent standstill appears to have started around 1992 Apr 27
and the nova remains near magnitude 8.3 visual in the latest
estimates made on May 20

Guy M Hurst