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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1141      1996 Oct 29 17.30UT
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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EDITOR'S ABSENCE
The Editor will be away and not contactable from Oct 30 returning
on the evening of Nov 3. During that time Martin Mobberley will
deputise in the issue of these circulars.
Please restrict e-mail traffic to urgent matters during this
period. For possible discoveries please send to the Editor's
box on DEMON and also send a copy to Martin at:
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Martin can also be telephoned on:
(01284) 828431 (Weekends);  (01245) 475297 (Weekdays)

SUPERNOVA 1996bn IN UGC 3430
J. Mueller reports her discovery of a supernova (mag about 18) on
a IIIa-F plate taken on Oct. 17 UT with the 1.2-m Oschin Schmidt
telescope by K. M. Rykoski in the course of the second Palomar Sky
Survey.  SN 1996bn is located 2".7 west and 5".4 south of the
centre of UGC 3430 (R.A. = 6h15m.8, Decl. = +64o26', equinox
2000.0).   M. H. van Kerkwijk (California Institute of Technology)
obtained a CCD spectrum of SN 1996bn in very poor seeing on
Oct. 21 with the 5-m Hale reflector at Palomar.  Preliminary
inspection of the uncalibrated data by A. G. Riess, D. C. Leonard,
and A. V. Filippenko (University of California, Berkeley) confirms
that the object is a supernova, probably of type Ia, about 1 month
past maximum brightness.
IAUC 6496

SUPERNOVA 1996bp IN MCG -06-04-053
R. H. McNaught, Anglo-Australian Observatory, reports his
discovery, on an R plate exposed by F. G. Watson with the U.K.
Schmidt on Aug. 11.8 UT, of an apparent supernova (mag about 18)
located at R.A. = 1h35m20s.80, Decl. = -32 46'51".0 (equinox
2000.0; poorly placed near the edge of the plate, uncertainty 0".6
in each coordinate), which is 8".5 west and 15".4 south of the
elliptical galaxy's centre.  SN 1996bp is also present on a weak U
film taken one day earlier (Aug. 10.8), with the supernova being
much more prominent in relation to nearby stars.  A nearby star (R
about 17, but fainter than SN 1996bp in U) has position end figures
22s.51, 47'28".6.  The supernova is not present on the ESO R or B
surveys or on several U.K. Schmidt exposures, the latest being an R
survey plate taken on 1991 Nov. 27.
IAUC 6498

SUPERNOVA 1996bo IN NGC 673
Mike Collins points out that the note by Patat on E1138 has a
missing reference which was also omitted from the IAUC as the
source material. The reference quoted is from MNRAS.

Guy M Hurst