------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1144 1996 Nov 23 19.25UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPERNOVA 1996bv IN UGC 3432 Weidong Li, Yulei Qiu, Qiran Qiao, and Jingyao Hu, Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO), on behalf of the BAO Supernova Survey, report their discovery of a supernova on unfiltered CCD images taken with the BAO 0.60-m reflector. SN 1996bv is located 3".6 northwest of the centre of UGC 3432 (R.A. = 6h16m.3, Decl. = +57o03',equinox 2000.0), and was estimated at the following magnitudes: Nov. 3 UT, 16.6; 12, 15.7; 16, 15.6. A V CCD image of the same field taken on Oct. 18 shows no star at this position. A low-resolution spectrum (0.96 nm/pixel, range 300-900 nm) taken with the BAO 2.16-m telescope by Li, Qiao, and J. Hao on Nov. 21.83 shows conspicuous Si II 635-nm absorption at 615 nm and typical features of type-Ia supernovae at maximum light (Si II, S II, Ca II, Mg II, etc.), with the overall spectrum resembling that of SN 1989B at maximum light. IAUC 6508 X PERSEI Further to the announcement on E1128 for a PRO-AM run on X Persei, professional astronomers at Sussex have been awarded time on the shuttle-based UV spectrometer ORFEUS, to observe X Per during the current Shuttle run and ask that the star be monitored (preferably in time series in U,B and/or V) for the next twelve days. It would also be helpful if visual results could be e-mailed to the Editor over that period. OJ 287 Gary Poyner, Birmingham, UK reports that from his own personal observations this object has recently been bright: 1996 Nov 8.115UT, 14.5; 10.126, 14.7; 21.079, 14.9. Visual observations were made with the 0.40-m reflector. These results have been relayed to professional astronomers in Finland and Tenerife as part of a continued PRO-AM campaign on this object. Guy M Hurst Turnpike evaluation. For information, see http://www.turnpike.com/ Turnpike evaluation. For Turnpike information, mailto:info@turnpike.com