-------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1338      1998 Sep 20 14.49UT
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------
NOVA IN NGC 221
E. Halderson et.al., University of California at Berkeley, report
their discovery of an apparent nova during the course of the Lick
Observatory Supernova Search with the 0.8-m Katzman Automatic
Imaging Telescope (KAIT).  The nova was found and confirmed on
unfiltered images taken on Aug.31.4 (mag about 16.6) and Sept.1.3UT
(mag about 16.5).  The object is located at:
R.A. = 0h42m39s.29, Decl. = +40o51'10".3 (2000), which is about
28".5 west and 44".7 south of the nucleus of NGC 221 (the satellite
galaxy of M31).  A KAIT image obtained on Aug. 27.3 UT did not show
a star at the position of the nova (limiting mag about 19.0).
S. Benetti, Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, La Palma; and T.Pursimo
and P. Heinamaki, Tuorla Observatory, confirm the presence of a new
object of magnitude R = 15.87 +/- 0.03 located 28".5 west and 45".1
south of the nucleus of NGC 221, on an R frame taken with the
Nordic Optical Telescope at La Palma on Sept. 1.12 UT.
IAUC 7004 (extract)

SUPERNOVA 1998dr IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
J. Maza, Department of Astronomy, University of Chile, reports the
discovery of a supernova (B about 18.0) by Roberto Antezana on
a T-Max 400 film taken by L. E. Gonzalez with the Maksutov
telescope at Cerro El Roble on Aug. 28.270 UT.  SN 1998dr is
located at R.A. = 0h09m30s.68, Decl. = -48o50'39".1 (2000), which
is 0".7 north of the nucleus of the host spiral galaxy. The new
star is not present on a film obtained on July 31.310 (B > 20).
SN 1998dr was confirmed by Maza at Las Campanas Observatory using
the 2.5-m du Pont telescope on Sept. 2; a preliminary analysis of
the spectrum shows this to be a type-Ia supernova, relatively near
maximum.
IAUC 7006 (extract)

SUPERNOVA 1998ds IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
Maza also reports the discovery of another supernova (B about 18.5)
by Antezana on a film taken (as above) on Aug. 28.306 UT. SN 1998ds
is located at R.A. = 3h17m19s.21, Decl. = -53o10'58".0 (2000),
which is 9".9 west and 2".9north of the nucleus of the host galaxy.
IAUC 7006

SUPERNOVA 1998dt IN NGC 945
T. Shefler, E. Halderson, M. Modjaz, J. Y. King, W. D. Li,
R. R. Treffers, and A. V. Filippenko, University of California at
Berkeley, report their discovery of an apparent supernova during
the course of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search with the 0.8-m
Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT).  SN 1998dt was found
and confirmed on unfiltered images taken on Sept. 1.4 (mag about
17.7) and 2.5 UT (mag about 17.3), respectively; it is located at
R.A. = 2h28m35s.72, Decl. = -10o32'59".8 (2000), which is about
23".1 west and 39".5 south of the nucleus of NGC 945.
IAUC 7006 (extract)

EDITORIAL
I very much regret the recent delays in announcement of items for
these circulars. The enormous backlog of messages from when I was
on holiday have now been seriously compounded by a water leakage
in TAHQ when has caused considerable damage to our property. It
may be a further month before restoration work is completed so
please bear with us if replies to routine messages are delayed.
Guy M Hurst