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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1266      1998 Jan 26 07.37UT
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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BERT CARPENTER
Andrew Elliott e-mails that with great sadness he has learnt that
Bert Carpenter died from a heart attack on 1998 January 21. The
news came from his wife Sheila to whom we send our sympathy.
Bert was a frequent visitor to TA meetings over the years. A
fuller note will appear in the next issue of TA.

SUPERNOVAE 1997ff AND 1997fg
R. L. Gilliland, Space Telescope Science Institute; and M. M.
Phillips, Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, report their
discovery of two apparent supernovae in the Hubble Deep Field HDF).
The objects were detected in second-epoch exposures of the HDF
obtained with WFPC2 on the Hubble Space Telescope (+ F814W filter)
between 1997 Dec. 23.6 and 27.0 UT; they were not present in images
taken on 1995 Dec. 25.  SN 1997ff is located 0".11 west and 0".11
south of the centre of a galaxy designated by Williams et al.
(1996,A.J. 112, 1335) as 4-403.0, whose position is given as
R.A. = 12h36m44s.11, Decl. = +62o12'44".8 (2000).  SN 1997fg is
located 0".31 east and 0".31 south of the centre of 3-221.0, which
has position end figures 57s.67, 13'15".3 (and redshift 0.952).
IAUC 6810 (extract)
Editor:The magnitudes of both objects were fainter than 20.

SUPERNOVA 1998C IN UGC 3825
Q. Y. Qiao, Y. L. Qiu, W. D. Li and J. Y. Hu, Beijing Astronomical
Observatory (BAO) report their discovery of a supernova in UGC 3825
on unfiltered CCD images taken with 0.6-m telescope on Jan. 21 UT.
SN 1998C is at R.A. = 7h23m34s.63, Decl. = +41o26'04".2 (2000),
which is 15".5 east and 0".5 south of the centre of UGC 3825.
CCD magnitudes: Jan. 21.57, 18.1; 22.59, 17.9.  Unfiltered CCD
images of the same field taken on Jan.8 show no star at this
position (limiting mag about 18.5).  A low-dispersion spectrum of
the supernova taken on Jan. 22.70 by Qiao and X. Y. Dong (BAO) and
X. Zhang (Yunnan Astronomical Observatory) with the BAO 2.16-m
telescope at Xinglong Station shows this to be a type-II supernova
before maximum.
IAUC 6812 (extract)

SV SGE (Q1998/006)
John Toone, Cressage, England e-mails that SV Sge, (R-CrB type)
is fading. Other observers confirm this variation:

1997 Dec  2.765UT, 10.6 (Gary Poyner, Birmingham, England)
     Dec 14.741UT, 11.1 (Toone)
1998 Jan  2.739UT, 11.5 (Toone)
     Jan  3.069UT, 11.3 (G.Hanson, USA)
     Jan 15.272UT, 12.0 (Toone)

Guy M Hurst