------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1303 1998 May 23 20.26UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL ABSENCE The Editor will be away and unavailable from tomorrow (Sunday) and will not return until next Thursday evening. During that time please refer urgent messages, such as discoveries, to Martin Mobberley in the usual way. SUPERNOVA 1998cc IN NGC 5172 W. D. Li, M. Modjaz, R. R. Treffers, and A. V. Filippenko, University of California at Berkeley, report their discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 18.1) during the course of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search with the 0.8-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT). The object was found and confirmed on unfiltered CCD images obtained on May 15.3 and 16.3UT, respectively. SN 1998cc is located at R.A. = 13h29m19s.31, Decl. = +17o02'42".4 (2000), which is about 24".5 due south of the nucleus of NGC 5172. IAUC 6907 (extract) COMET C/1998 K1 (MUELLER) Jean Mueller reports her discovery of a comet in the course of the second Palomar Sky Survey. The following positions are available: 1998 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer May 16.20104 10 38 17.53 +32 34 25.6 17.5 Mueller 17.32014 10 38 40.0 +32 18 36 Gal 17.91916 10 38 50.97 +32 09 44.0 16 Ticha 17.93014 10 38 51.16 +32 09 35.1 " 18.15106 10 38 55.66 +32 06 24.6 16.4 Hergenrother 18.27426 10 38 58.08 +32 04 37.7 The following parabolic orbital elements, by Brian Marsden, are quite uncertain: T = 1998 May 23.511 TT Peri. = 145.716 Node = 14.925 2000.0 q = 3.73200 AU Incl. = 37.770 IAUC 6908 (extract) The comet is evidently fading. SUPERNOVA 1998cd IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY J. Mueller reports her discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 17.5) on a plate taken on May 17 with the 1.2-m Oschin Schmidt Telescope in the course of the second Palomar Sky Survey. R. Gal obtained a CCD frame on May 18 with the Palomar 1.5-m telescope that confirms the presence of the object. G. V.Williams, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, provides the following reduction of positional measures by Mueller for SN 1998cd: R.A. = 10h45m04s.16, Decl. = +39o25'12".5 (equinox 2000.0); this corresponds to an offset 8".2 east and 5".8 south from the galaxy's centre. IAUC 6909 (extract) SUPERNOVA 1998ce IN MCG -4-24-19 S. Woodings, R. Martin, and A. Williams report their discovery of an apparent supernova (R about 16) on an image taken through thin cloud on May 19.50 UT with the Perth-Lowell 0.61-m reflector in the course of the Perth Astronomy Research Group's automated supernova search (confirmed with an image taken on May 21.7). J.Biggs and A. Verveer provide the following position for SN 1998ce from unfiltered CCD images obtained around May 21.461 with the 0.25-m Mike Candy Telescope at Perth: R.A. = 10h10m34s.70 +/- 0s.02, Decl. = -25o49'30".8 +/- 0".3 (equinox 2000.0; mag 16.0), which is about 9" west and 8" south of the centre of MCG -4-24-19. IAUC 6912 (extract) Guy M Hurst