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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1279      1998 Mar 12 21.31UT
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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1997 XF11
This object, discovered by J. V. Scotti in the course of the
Spacewatch program at the University of Arizona on 1997 Dec. 6
and with H = 17.0 recognized as one of the 108 "potentially
hazardous asteroids" (PHAs), has been under observation through
1998 Mar. 4, the latest data having been obtained by P. J. Shelus
with the 0.76-m relector at the McDonald Observatory.  An orbit
computation from the 88-day arc appears on MPEC 1998-E13 and
MPC 31424.  This nominal orbit indicates that the object will pass
only 0.00031 AU from the earth on 2028 Oct. 26.73 UT!  Error
estimates suggest that passage within 0.002 AU is virtually
certain, this figure being decidedly smaller than has been reliably
predicted for generally fainter PHAs in the foreseeable future.
The following ephemeris is given in the hope that further
observations will allow refinement of the 2028 miss distance;
physical observations would also presumably be useful. The object
will next be at opposition in Feb. 2000 at V = 19.3.  There will
also be an approach to a distance of 0.065 AU on 2002 Oct. 31
(V = 13.7).

1998 TT     R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta      r   Elong. Phase   V
Mar.  8     6 15.92    +17 56.7    1.557    2.070 106.5   27.4 20.8
     18     6 22.81    +18 18.0    1.701    2.089  98.2   28.1 21.0
     28     6 32.08    +18 33.4    1.846    2.106  90.5   28.3 21.2
Apr.  7     6 43.26    +18 42.1    1.988    2.119  83.3   28.0 21.4
     17     6 55.94    +18 43.5    2.126    2.128  76.5   27.3 21.5
     27     7 09.81    +18 36.9    2.258    2.135  70.0   26.3 21.6
May   7     7 24.64    +18 22.1    2.382    2.139  63.9   25.1 21.7
     17     7 40.21    +17 58.8    2.497    2.139  57.9   23.6 21.8
     27     7 56.37    +17 26.9    2.602    2.136  52.2   22.0 21.8
June  6     8 13.00    +16 46.4    2.695    2.131  46.7   20.3 21.8
     16     8 30.00    +15 57.3    2.777    2.122  41.3   18.4 21.8
     26     8 47.30    +14 59.7    2.845    2.110  36.0   16.5 21.8
July  6     9 04.85    +13 54.0    2.901    2.094  30.9   14.4 21.7

SUPERNOVA 1998T IN IC 694
W.-d. Li, University of California at Berkeley (UCB), forwards
the report from C. Li that Zhou Wan has found an apparent supernova
(unfiltered CCD mag 15.4) on Mar. 3 UT as part of the Beijing
Astronomical Observatory Supernova Survey.  As with SN 1998S, this
object was confirmed by the Lick Supernova Survey at unfiltered mag
about 14.5 on Mar. 4.3, with the corresponding KAIT position given
as R.A. = 11h28m32s, Decl. = +58o33'.7 (2000). Observations of the
same field prior to Mar. 3 do not show an object at the position of
SN 1998T.
IAUC 6830 (extract)

SUPERNOVA 1998U IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
N. Regnault and O. Perdereau, on behalf of the EROS collaboration,
report the discovery of an apparent supernova (V about 20) on
Mar. 3 (and confirmed on Mar. 4) on images taken with the
Marly 1-m telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
SN 1998U is located at:
R.A. = 11h36m32s.20, Decl. = -12o07'26".7 (2000), which is 2".4
west and 4".2 north of the host galaxy.  Additional images of SN
1998U were obtained on Mar. 6 at the ESO 1.5-m Danish telescope.
IAUC 6836 (extract)

Guy M Hurst