------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1240 1997 Oct 06 21.46UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET C/1997 T1 (UTSUNOMIYA) The comet mentioned on E1239 has now been designated as above. Visual magnitude estimates: Oct. 6.07 UT, 9.9 (D. W. E. Green, Lexington, MA, 0.25-m reflector); 6.11, 11.0 (G. W. Kronk, Troy, IL, 0.33-m reflector; 2' tail in p.a. 130 deg); 6.17, 10.0 (Chris Spratt, Victoria, BC, 0.20-m reflector). Preliminary elements by S.Nakano, Sumoto, Japan and based on 46 observations (October 5-6): T 1997 Dec 10.8360 TT w 96.95000 ) e 1.00000000 O 53.94200 ) 2000.0 q 1.3493300 A.U. i 128.18200 ) Source: ."IAUC 6753" Positions are geocentric Ephemeris by Guy Hurst using EPH.EXE by Nick James: m = 8.0 + 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 Oct 6.00 22 29.19 +71 40.3 1.019 1.654 110.0 10.2 282 250 7.00 22 7.54 +70 55.6 1.014 1.646 109.6 10.2 285 244 8.00 21 47.55 +70 1.2 1.011 1.638 109.2 10.2 286 239 9.00 21 29.33 +68 58.2 1.008 1.630 108.6 10.1 287 235 10.00 21 12.89 +67 47.9 1.006 1.622 108.0 10.1 287 230 11.00 20 58.17 +66 31.6 1.006 1.614 107.3 10.1 287 227 12.00 20 45.02 +65 10.4 1.006 1.607 106.6 10.1 286 223 13.00 20 33.32 +63 45.3 1.008 1.599 105.7 10.1 284 220 14.00 20 22.90 +62 17.2 1.011 1.591 104.8 10.0 282 218 15.00 20 13.62 +60 47.0 1.015 1.584 103.9 10.0 279 215 16.00 20 5.35 +59 15.3 1.019 1.577 102.9 10.0 275 213 17.00 19 57.96 +57 42.7 1.025 1.569 101.8 10.0 271 211 18.00 19 51.34 +56 9.9 1.032 1.562 100.7 10.0 267 210 19.00 19 45.41 +54 37.2 1.040 1.555 99.6 10.0 262 208 20.00 19 40.07 +53 5.0 1.049 1.548 98.4 10.0 257 207 21.00 19 35.27 +51 33.7 1.058 1.541 97.2 10.0 251 205 22.00 19 30.92 +50 3.6 1.069 1.534 95.9 10.0 245 204 23.00 19 26.99 +48 34.9 1.080 1.527 94.7 10.0 239 203 24.00 19 23.43 +47 7.7 1.092 1.521 93.4 10.0 233 202 25.00 19 20.19 +45 42.3 1.105 1.514 92.1 10.0 227 201 26.00 19 17.24 +44 18.7 1.118 1.508 90.9 10.0 220 200 27.00 19 14.56 +42 57.1 1.133 1.501 89.6 10.0 214 199 28.00 19 12.10 +41 37.5 1.147 1.495 88.3 10.0 207 199 29.00 19 9.86 +40 20.0 1.163 1.489 87.0 10.1 201 198 30.00 19 7.81 +39 4.6 1.178 1.483 85.7 10.1 195 197 31.00 19 5.92 +37 51.4 1.195 1.477 84.4 10.1 189 197 SUPERNOVA 1997dg IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY Q.-y. Qiao, Y.-l. Qiu, and J.-y. Hu, Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO); A. Esamdin, Urmqi Astronomical Station; and Y. Zhang, Beijing Normal University, on behalf of the BAO Supernova Survey, report their discovery of an apparent supernova found on unfiltered CCD images taken on Sept. 27.72 (mag about 16.7) and 28.60 UT (mag 16.4) with the BAO 0.60-m reflector. SN 1997dg is located near the centre of the host galaxy, at R.A. = 23h40m14s.21, Decl. = +26o12'11".8 (equinox 2000.0). Images of the same field taken on Sept. 4 (limiting mag about 19.0) show no star at this position. Guy M Hurst