------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1385 1999 Feb 17 23.15UT 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 is taking a well deserved break away from the rigours of bank and TA work and he will be out of contact until the weekend. In the meantime the undersigned is deputizing. Any urgent enquiries should be directed to Nick James (+44 1245 354366) or to Denis Buczynski (+44 1524 68530). E-mails requiring urgent attention should be sent to the normal TA address with a copy to the address given at the end of this circular. 1999 CV3 This unusually bright Apollo asteroid (cf E1381) is an interesting object. It is currently about 13th magnitude moving north in Leo. Photometry from Chelmsford suggests a variation of 0.3 mag in a few hours and it would be good target for CCD equipped photometrists. It is currently ideally placed for long photometric runs throughout the night. SN 1999aa in NGC 2595 Ron Arbour's latest SN is also very well placed in the evening sky. Reports indicate that it is still brightening and observations are strongly encouraged. A. V. Filippenko, W. D. Li, and D. C. Leonard, University of California at Berkeley, write: "CCD spectra (range 330-1000 nm) obtained on Feb. 12 UT with the Lick Observatory 3-m Shane reflector show that SN 1999aa is a peculiar type-Ia supernova, very similar to SN 1991T ... Overall, the spectrum suggests an age of about 6 days before maximum brightness." IAUC 7108 Nick James (ndj@astro1.demon.co.uk)