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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1403      1999 Apr 27 20.31UT
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
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NOVA SAGITTARII 1999
Y. and R. Kushida, Yatsugatake South Base Observatory, report
the discovery by Minoru Yamamoto, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan, of a nova
(mag 8.6) on two TMax-400 films taken with a 200-mm f/4 camera lens
(+ PO-0 filter) on Apr. 25.731 UT.  No star is visible at this
location on 23 previous films taken by Yamamoto dating back to 1997
Feb. 19, the most recent from 1999 Apr. 11 (limiting mag 10.6).
The Kushidas provide the following precise position from an
unfiltered CCD image taken with a 0.4-m f/6.3 Schmidt-Cassegrain
reflector on Apr. 26.778, when the star appeared at mag 7.6:
R.A.= 18h07m36s.22, Decl. = -27o20'13".5 (2000).  Nothing obvious
appears at this location on the Digital Sky Survey.

COMET C/1999 H3 (LINEAR)
Orbital elements for the comet announced on E1402:
T  1999 Aug  17.9070 TT      w 101.80100 )
e  1.00000000                O 332.66900 ) 2000.0
q  3.5018600 A.U.            i 115.83200 )
Source: IAUC 7152    Positions are geocentric

Ephemeris by G.Hurst using EPH.EXE by N.James:

m =  7.0 + 5.0 log R + 10.0 log r

  Date    R.A. (2000) Dec.     R       r     Elong  Mag.    Motion
          h  m       o  '     (AU)    (AU)     o          "/hr P.A.
1999 Apr
  27.00  19 11.40  +45 54.0   3.491   3.651   91.1  15.3    66  327
1999 May
   2.00  19  3.83  +47 44.4   3.439   3.639   93.3  15.3    69  323
   7.00  18 54.81  +49 32.5   3.392   3.627   95.3  15.2    71  318
  12.00  18 44.21  +51 16.2   3.351   3.615   96.9  15.2    74  313
  17.00  18 31.94  +52 53.4   3.317   3.604   98.3  15.2    75  308
  22.00  18 17.95  +54 21.5   3.290   3.594   99.2  15.1    77  303
  27.00  18  2.30  +55 37.9   3.270   3.584   99.8  15.1    78  297
1999 June
   1.00  17 45.15  +56 40.2   3.257   3.574   99.9  15.1    78  290
   6.00  17 26.79  +57 26.4   3.251   3.565   99.7  15.1    78  284
  11.00  17  7.65  +57 54.9   3.253   3.557   99.0  15.1    78  277
  16.00  16 48.26  +58  5.1   3.262   3.549   98.0  15.1    77  270
  21.00  16 29.18  +57 57.2   3.279   3.542   96.6  15.1    75  264
  26.00  16 10.92  +57 32.3   3.301   3.535   94.9  15.1    73  257

SUPERNOVA 1999bw IN NGC 3198
W. D. Li, University of California at Berkeley, on behalf of
the Lick Observatory Supernova Search reports the discovery on
unfiltered CCD images taken on Apr. 20.2UT with the 0.8-m Katzman
Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) of a variable star (mag about
17.8) near NGC 3198.  Inspection of earlier images taken by KAIT
reveals that the object was clearly present on Apr. 15.2 (mag about
18.4) and 19.2 (mag about 18.0). The new object is located at:
R.A. = 10h19m46s.81, Decl. = +45o31'35".0 (2000), which is about
85".8 west and 83".8 south of the nucleus of NGC 3198.
IAUC 7149 (extract)
Editor: Although considerable doubt has been cast on whether this
is a supernova, Filippenko reports that a spectrum secured on
Apr 24 now confirms its nature.

Guy M Hurst