------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1348 1998 Oct 22 21.25UT 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 M31 N. N. Samus, Sternberg Astronomical Institute, reports the discovery by R. Inasaridze, G. Kimeridze, and M. Nikolashvili at the Abastumani Observatory of an apparent nova in M31 located at R.A. = 0h42m33s.93, Decl. = +41o04'56".8 (2000). The new star was at photographic magnitudes 18.3 on Aug. 26 and 16.6 on Aug. 29; it has been subsequently confirmed by A. Alksnis (Latvian Radioastrophysical Observatory) and A. Sharov (Sternberg Institute) on Baldone and Crimean plates. Sharov also confirms that the object is not present on a number of earlier photographs or in Hodge's Atlas of M31. IAUC 7028 SUPERNOVA 1998ed IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY J. Mueller reports her discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 18) on a plate taken on Sept. 16 with the 1.2-m Oschin Schmidt Telescope by K. Rykoski in the course of the Palomar Outer Solar System Ecliptic Survey. SN 1998ed is located at R.A. = 23h00m14s.64, Decl. = -13o13'58".2 (equinox 2000.0), which is 6" west and 2".7 south of the centre of the host galaxy. IAUC 7030 SUPERNOVA 1998ee IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY J. Maza, Department of Astronomy, University of Chile, reports the discovery by Marina Wischnjewsky, on a T-Max 400 film taken by L. E. Gonzalez using the Maksutov telescope at Cerro El Roble on Oct. 14.255 UT, of a supernova (B about 17.5) located at R.A. = 1h53m31s.33, Decl. = -53o58'19".5 (2000), which is 5".1 east and 1".9 north of the nucleus of the host spiral galaxy. The object was confirmed via B and V direct images taken by D. Gonzalez on Oct. 16.46 using the YALO telescope at Cerro Tololo. SN 1998ee is not visible on films obtained with the Cerro El Roble telescope on Sept. 27.245 through clouds (B > 17) and on Sept. 15.256 (B > 19). IAUC 7030 COMET P/1998 S1 On Oct. 17, Jean Mueller reported her discovery of a cometary object with a strong condensation and a faint but obvious tail to the southwest on a 30-min exposure on Oct. 14 with the 1.2-m Oschin Schmidt telescope at Palomar. The plate was taken by K. Rykoski and Mueller in the course of the Palomar Outer Solar System Ecliptic Survey, with M. Brown as the principal investigator. The comet was confirmed on Oct. 17 on CCD frames obtained by R. Gal with the 1.5-m Palomar telescope and on another Oschin Schmidt 30-min exposure (in seeing so bad that it compromised the positional measurements) by Mueller. IAUC 7031 Editor: This object was later linked with a LINEAR object as shown below: 1998 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer Sept.26.21764 1 13 33.81 +12 41 12.7 18.1 LINEAR Oct. 14.25694 1 00 13.71 +13 02 14.8 17 Mueller T = 1998 Nov. 3.180 TT Peri. = 26.489 e = 0.41690 Node = 359.183 2000.0 q = 2.54819 AU Incl. = 10.559 a = 4.37008 AU n = 0.107887 P = 9.14 years Guy M Hurst