------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1268 1998 Feb 05 07.47UT 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 1998D IN NGC 5440 Y. L. Qiu, Q. Y. Qiao, W. D. Li, and J. Y. Hu, Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO) report their discovery of an apparent supernova (mag 15.6 and 15.5 on Jan. 28.88 and 29.89 UT, respectively) on unfiltered CCD images taken with a 0.6-m telescope. SN 1998D is located at R.A. = 14h02m59s.28, Decl. = +34o44'54".3 (equinox 2000.0), which is 26".1 west and 7".4 south of the centre of NGC 5440. Unfiltered CCD images of the same field taken on Jan. 5 show no star at this position (limiting mag about 18.5). A low- dispersion spectrum taken on Jan. 29.74 by J. Y. Wei (BAO) and Qiu with the BAO 2.16-m telescope at Xinglong Station shows this to be a type-Ia supernova at maximum. IAUC 6815 (extract) COMET 55P/TEMPEL-TUTTLE L. Jorda, Max Planck Institute for Aeronomie; J. Lecacheux, Meudon Observatory; F. Colas, Bureau des Longitudes, Paris; E. Frappa, Planetarium de Saint-Etienne; and P. Laques, Bagneres-de- Bigorre, France, report that images of the nuclear region of comet 55P taken in the past few days show a jet of matter whose brighter inner section (within 4" of the nucleus) moves with an amplitude of 25 deg, yielding possible rotation periods of 15.31 +/- 0.03 and 14.79 +/- 0.02 hr. Some selected images are presented at http://www.bdl.fr/s2p/comete/tt/tt_e.html. IAUC 6816 (extract) Editor: Numerous telephone enquiries have been received regarding the ephemeris for this comet which has already appeared in our monthly magazine but is reproduced here for those who only subscribe to circulars: Date R.A. (2000) Dec. R r Elong Mag. Motion h m o ' (AU) (AU) o "/hr P.A. 1998 Feb 5.00 1 18.56 +24 12.2 0.773 1.048 72.0 10.4 189 186 6.00 1 18.06 +23 0.4 0.805 1.042 70.3 10.5 174 185 7.00 1 17.62 +21 54.1 0.837 1.037 68.8 10.6 161 185 8.00 1 17.22 +20 52.7 0.868 1.031 67.2 10.6 149 185 9.00 1 16.87 +19 55.7 0.900 1.026 65.7 10.7 138 185 10.00 1 16.55 +19 2.6 0.932 1.021 64.2 10.7 129 185 11.00 1 16.25 +18 13.1 0.964 1.017 62.8 10.8 121 185 12.00 1 15.99 +17 26.7 0.995 1.012 61.4 10.8 113 185 13.00 1 15.75 +16 43.2 1.027 1.008 60.0 10.9 106 185 14.00 1 15.52 +16 2.3 1.058 1.004 58.7 10.9 100 184 15.00 1 15.31 +15 23.8 1.089 1.000 57.3 11.0 94 184 16.00 1 15.12 +14 47.4 1.120 0.997 56.0 11.0 89 184 17.00 1 14.94 +14 13.0 1.151 0.994 54.7 11.1 84 184 18.00 1 14.77 +13 40.4 1.181 0.991 53.5 11.1 80 184 19.00 1 14.61 +13 9.4 1.212 0.988 52.2 11.2 76 184 20.00 1 14.46 +12 39.9 1.242 0.986 50.9 11.2 72 184 21.00 1 14.32 +12 11.8 1.271 0.984 49.7 11.2 69 184 22.00 1 14.18 +11 45.0 1.301 0.982 48.5 11.3 66 184 23.00 1 14.05 +11 19.3 1.330 0.980 47.3 11.3 63 184 24.00 1 13.92 +10 54.7 1.358 0.979 46.1 11.4 60 184 25.00 1 13.80 +10 31.1 1.387 0.978 44.9 11.4 58 184 26.00 1 13.68 +10 8.5 1.415 0.977 43.7 11.5 56 184 27.00 1 13.57 +9 46.7 1.442 0.977 42.5 11.5 54 184 28.00 1 13.46 +9 25.7 1.469 0.977 41.3 11.5 52 184 Guy M Hurst