------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1291 1998 Apr 17 16.00UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- MARKARIAN 421 Gary Poyner, Birmingham, UK has recently reported that this object may be brighter than usual: 1998 Mar 30.915UT, 13.0; Apr. 11.933, 12.9; 12.863, 12.6. We also note that the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) is scheduled to monitor the object from 1998 Apr 23-30. Please endeavour to make observations from now until the end of April and send daily reports to the Editor. Further details at: http://gamma.bu.edu/webt/mrk421.html SUPERNOVAE 1998ao AND 1998ap IN ANONYMOUS GALAXIES J. Maza, Department of Astronomy, University of Chile, reports the discovery of two supernovae by Roberto Antezana on a T-Max 400 films taken by L. E. Gonzalez with the Maksutov telescope at Cerro El Roble. SN 1998ao (B about 18) was found on a film taken on Mar. 25.07 UT, and it is located at R.A. = 10h07m14s.58, Decl. = -26o23'35".1 (2000), which is 9".7 east and 3".7 south of the centre of the host galaxy. The object was confirmed by R. Covarrubias at Cerro Tololo using the 0.91-m telescope on Mar. 28, and it is not present (B > 20) on a film obtained on Feb. 25. 1998ap (B about 17) was found on a film taken on Mar. 31.385, and it is located at R.A. = 20h00m35s.58, Decl. = -52o42'36".8 (2000), which is 16".2 west and 2".9 north of the centre of the host galaxy. IAUC 6873 (extract) SUPERNOVA 1998ar IN NGC 2916 Y. L. Qiu, Q.Y. Qaio, W. D. Li, and J. Y. Hu, Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO) report the discovery of an apparent supernova on unfiltered CCD frames taken in the course of the BAO Supernova Survey on Apr. 14 and 15 UT, when the estimated magnitudes of the new star were 18.4 and 18.2, respectively. SN 1998ar is located at R.A. = 9h34m58s.86, Decl. = +21o42'57".5 (2000), which is 16".9 east and 38".5 north of the centre of NGC 2916. CCD frames taken on Mar. 14 (limiting mag about 18.6) show no star at the position of SN 1998ar. IAUC 6877 (extract) Guy M Hurst