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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1206      1997 Jun 22 12.03UT
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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TA ANNUAL AWARDS
Voting is now invited for the work contributed by readers to
'The Astronomer' magazine during Volume 33 (1996 May to 1997
April).

The two awards are for:
a) Best contributor to cover material (The 'Alan Young Award').
b) Best overall contributor to the magazine and 'TA' in general
during the same period.

Although voting papers have been sent with the June TA, those
with Internet facilities are encouraged to e-mail their votes
to the Editor. The deadline is 1997 July 7.

SUPERNOVA 1997cr IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
The Mount Stromlo Abell Cluster Supernova Search Team reports the
discovery of an apparent supernova (V =20.4, R = 20.4) on CCD
images taken on June 7 by S. Chan at the Mount Stromlo 1.27-m
telescope (+ Macho Camera).  SN 1997cr is located near Abell 3744
at R.A. = 21h05m48s.21, Decl. = -25o13'29".8 (2000). A nearby star
has position end figures 54s.32, 14'47".4.  SN 1997cr was also
present on similar frames taken on June 1 (same magnitudes), but it
is not visible on images taken on 1996 May 22 (limiting mag R=21).
IAUC 6679 (extract)

COMET C/1997 L1 (XINGLONG)
Parabolic orbital elements by B. G. Marsden for the comet
reported on E1204:

     T = 1996 Nov. 17.181 TT          Peri. = 345.518
                                      Node  = 233.290   2000.0
     q = 4.87585 AU                   Incl. =  72.900
IAUC 6681

Ephemeris by G.Hurst using EPH.EXE by N.James:

m =  6.5 + 5.0 log R + 10.0 log r

  Date    R.A. (2000) Dec.     R       r     Elong  Mag.    Motion
          h  m       o  '     (AU)    (AU)     o          "/hr P.A.
1997 June
  21.00  15 23.47   -4  1.6   4.356   5.155  137.8  16.8    24  322
  26.00  15 21.61   -3 25.3   4.424   5.167  132.7  16.9    22  323
1997 July
   1.00  15 20.04   -2 52.1   4.498   5.180  127.6  16.9    19  326
   6.00  15 18.78   -2 21.9   4.575   5.193  122.5  17.0    17  330
  11.00  15 17.83   -1 54.7   4.657   5.207  117.6  17.0    14  335
  16.00  15 17.19   -1 30.2   4.743   5.220  112.7  17.1    12  342
  21.00  15 16.86   -1  8.5   4.831   5.234  108.0  17.1    10  353
  26.00  15 16.83   -0 49.2   4.921   5.248  103.3  17.2     9    6
  31.00  15 17.10   -0 32.3   5.012   5.262   98.7  17.2     9   21

Guy M Hurst