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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1136      1996 Oct 22 17.48UT
Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise,  Basingstoke,
Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074
INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK             GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK
WORLD WIDE WEB                    http://www.demon.co.uk/astronomer
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SUPERNOVA 1996bl IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
C. Pollas, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur (OCA), reports his
discovery, on two films taken on Oct. 11.9 and 12.9 UT with the OCA
Schmidt telescope, of a supernova (V about 17.4) located at R.A. =
0h36m17s.97, Decl. = +11o23'40".5 (equinox 2000.0), which is 3".0
west and 5".8 north of the galaxy's centre.  Nothing is visible at
this position on the original Palomar Sky Survey or on a IIIa-J
plate taken in 1987.  A nearby star (V about 16.0) is at position
end figures 19s.29, 24'09".4. CCD images taken with the Whipple
Observatory 1.2-m reflector by L. Macri show SN 1996bl to be 2".4
west and 5".0 north of the galaxy's center at magnitude V = 17.0.
IAUC 6492 (extract)

Editor: SN 1996at to 1996bj were announced on IAUC 6490 as found
by the High-Z Supernova Search Team but were all mag 21 or
fainter and have not therefore been individually mentioned here.

SUPERNOVA 1996bm IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
The Mount Stromlo Abell Cluster Supernova Search Team reports the
discovery of an apparent supernova on a CCD image taken by
R. Soria on the Mount Stromlo 1.27-m telescope (+ Macho Camera).
SN 1996bm is located near Abell 2819 at R.A. = 0h44m40s.85,
Decl. = -63o44'44".6 (equinox 2000.0), which is 0".3 west and
0".6 north of the nucleus of the host galaxy.  SN 1996bm is
visible at mag about 20.5 on V and R CCD images taken on Oct. 4,
and was not detected on similar frames taken on Sept. 1; a nearby
HST guide star of mag 14.1 has position end figures 39s.35,
42'16".7.  CCD images taken with the 1.7-m reflector on Oct. 10
show the supernova to be marginally brighter than on the discovery
frame.
IAUC 6492 (extract)

COMET P/1996 U1 (SHOEMAKER-LEVY 3)
G. Hahn, Institut fur Planetenerkundung, DLR Forschungszentrum,
Berlin, reports the recovery of comet P/1991 C1 (= 1990 XXVII =
1991e) by A. Maury, M. Lundstrom and himself in the course of the
OCA-DLR Asteroid Survey using the 0.9-m Schmidt telescope + CCD at
Caussols.  The comet was diffuse, with no tail, in moderate to
poor seeing.  The nominal correction (ignoring perturbations
between now and the epoch) to the prediction by S. Nakano on
MPC 25183 is Delta T = -0.1 day.

     1996 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m1
     Oct. 17.99750    1 39 09.25   +17 39 57.9   19.3
          18.94122    1 38 28.81   +17 36 32.1   19.2
     The following improved orbital elements, by the Brian Marsden
satisfy 25 observations 1991-1996 with mean residual 0".6:
                    Epoch = 1998 Mar.  8.0 TT
     T = 1998 Mar.  4.9475 TT         Peri. = 181.3886
     e = 0.247914                     Node  = 303.7122  2000.0
     q = 2.817332 AU                  Incl. =   5.0086
       a =  3.746025 AU    n = 0.1359402    P =   7.250 years
IAUC 6494
Guy M Hurst