------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1148 1996 Dec 17 19.51UT 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 1996bw IN NGC 664 W. Li, Q. Qiao, Y. Qiu, and J. Hu, Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO), report the discovery by the BAO Supernova Survey of a supernova located 19".7 west and 3".3 south of the centre of NGC 664 (R.A. = 1h43m46s, Decl. = +4o13'.3, equinox 2000.0). The following magnitudes of SN 1996bw were derived from unfiltered CCD images taken with the 0.60-m BAO reflector: Nov. 30, about 17.5; Dec. 2, 17.2. Unfiltered CCD images of the same field (limiting mag about 19.0) taken on Nov. 15 and 26 show no star at the position of SN 1996bw. A low-resolution, low-signal-to-noise spectrogram (0.96 nm/pixel, range 350-900 nm), taken with the BAO 2.16-m telescope by Li, J. Wei, and D. Xiu on Dec. 2.50 UT, suggests that this may be a type-Ib supernova prior to optical maximum; the spectrum is very blue, with no clear classification features. IAUC 6512 (extract) SATELLITES OF SATURN C. Roddier and F. Roddier, Institute for Astronomy (IfA), University of Hawaii; A. Brahic, Observatoire de Paris; and J. E. Graves, M. J.Northcott and T. Owen, IfA, report: "Images of Saturn's rings, taken in Aug. 1995 with the University of Hawaii adaptive-optics system mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, have now been deconvolved and carefully processed. They show evidence for at least nine additional objects all orbiting in the F ring. A good orbital fit (including the effects of the Saturnian J2 and J4 harmonics) was obtained for all of them with a single distance of 140 500 +/- 500 km. The following list includes the three objects already announced on IAUC 6407. As before, the longitudes (uncertainty +/- 1 deg) are for the epoch 1995 Aug. 10.5 TT (at Saturn) and are measured from the ascending node of Saturn's equator on the earth's J2000.0 equator: S/1995 S 11, longitude 302 deg, estimated radius 12 km; S/1995 S 9, 317, 16; S/1995 S 12, 320, 10; S/1995 S 7 = 1995 S 8, 325, 20; S/1995 S 13, 330, 12; S/1995 S 14, 46, 16; S/1995 S 15, 105, 12; S/1995 S 16, 114, 10; S/1995 S 17, 116, 10; S/1995 S 18, 118, 10; S/1995 S 19, 120, 10; S/1995 S 5 = 1995 S 10, 131, 20. We also find some evidence for S/1995 S 11, S/1995 S 15, S/1995 S 16 and S/1995 S 17 in the HST data. S/1995 S 12 is part of the possible S/1995 S 9 arc structure mentioned on IAUC 6407, now resolved into two components; we no longer see evidence for arc structures. The 12 objects listed above cover a total longitude range of 135 deg. Assuming that objects are uniformly distributed, one can estimate that the F ring contains some 32 of them with radii larger than 10 km." IAUC 6515 (extract) BRIAN MANNING We are pleased to announce that at a ceremony at Birmingham University on 1996 Dec 13 Brian Manning was awarded a Hon. Doctor of Science Degree. Our sincere congratulations from the whole TA team. A detailed account of the ceremony and a summary of Brian's discoveries will appear in the January issue of 'The Astronomer' magazine. Guy M Hurst