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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1222      1997 Aug 10 12.00UT
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 1997dc IN NGC 7678
     The Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO) supernova survey
(cf. IAUC 6612, with also A. Esamdin, Urmqi Astronomical Station)
reports an apparent supernova in NGC 7678, discovered on unfiltered CCD
frames taken with the 0.6-m reflector at BAO on Aug. 5, 8 and 9.  The
supernova brightened from unfiltered mag 18.3 +/- 0.3 on Aug. 5 to
17.5 +/- 0.3 on Aug. 8.  The supernova's position is
R.A. = 23h28m28s.41, Decl. = +22d25'23".0 (equinox 2000.0), which is
offset 8".7 east and 5".0 north of the nucleus of the galaxy.
Unfiltered CCD images of the same field were taken on 1996 Nov. 26 (lim.
mag about 19.0), when no star showed at the position of the supernova.
IAUC 6715

MORE KREUTZ SUNGRAZERS DISCOVERED IN ARCHIVAL *1996* SOHO-LASCO DATA:-

COMET C/1996 M1 (SOHO)
C. St. Cyr, Naval Research Lab, reports the discovery of another evident
Kreutz sungrazer, no brighter than m1 = 8, by Biesecker and B. McCarty in an
automated search of archival SOHO-LASCO C3 coronagraph data.  There was
no evidence of a tail, and the comet was not found in C2 data.
Discovery position:-
                1996 UT           R.A. (2000) Decl.
                June 17.775       5 41.1      +19 55
IAUC 6713

Orbital elements from 19 observations (1996 June 17-18, MPEC P05)

                T 1996 June 19.01 TT   Peri.   91.17  )
                e 1.00000000           Node    13.94  ) 2000.0
                q 0.0058               Incl.  141.72  )

COMET C/1996 M2 (SOHO)
     C. St. Cyr, Naval Research Laboratory, reports, for the SOHO-LASCO
Consortium (see IAUC 6685), the discovery by B. McCarty, University of
Birmingham, of another comet in a visual examination of archival
SOHO-LASCO C3 coronagraph data.  No tail was evident, and the comet
was not detected by C2.  Measurements by D. A. Biesecker and St. Cyr
have been reduced by G. V. Williams.
Discovery position:-
                   1996 UT           R.A. (2000) Decl.
                   June 25.730       6 10.8      +19 43

Comet C/1996 M2 is evidently another Kreutz sungrazer.  Orbital
computations by Brian Marsden show a strong resemblance to the data for
comet C/1996 M1, observed eight days previously (see details above),
indicating the close physical relationship of this pair.
IAUC 6715

Orbital elements from 21 observations (1996 June 25-26, MPEC P06)

               T 1996 June 27.10 TT    Peri.   91.66  )
               e 1.00000000            Node    13.78  )  2000.0
               q 0.0053                Incl.  142.44  )

Martin Mobberley