------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1427 1999 Jly 18 09.29UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET 1999 N2 Daniel W. Lynn, Kinglake West, Victoria, Australia, reports his visual discovery of a comet using handheld 10x50 binoculars. The following observations have been reported: 1999 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 Observer July 13.451 9 41.0 -16 30 8.0 Lynn 13.951 9 47.5 -15 25 7.0 Neto 14.37580 9 52 03.27 -14 29 18.8 8.3 Zoltowski 14.37842 9 52 05.19 -14 28 57.6 " 14.38241 9 52 08.06 -14 28 26.1 " 14.38673 9 52 11.21 -14 27 51.4 " 14.39091 9 52 14.25 -14 27 17.8 " 14.394 9 52.4 -14 25 8.0 Lynn 14.39624 9 52 18.12 -14 26 35.1 Zoltowski 14.40275 9 52 22.83 -14 25 43.1 " 14.40995 9 52 28.05 -14 24 45.4 " D. W. Lynn (near Melbourne). 10x50 binoculars and 0.20-m f/6 reflector (40x, 150x). Comet low in sky, moving northeastward at about 10'/hr. Coma diameter 4'.2, fairly strong central brightening, but no discernible nuclear condensation and no tail. IAUC 7222 SUPERNOVA 1999cz IN NGC 5078 A. Williams, R. Martin, and S. Woodings report their discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 16) on an image taken on June 21.53 UT in the course of the Perth Automated Supernova Search. A confirming image was obtained on June 23.4, while no object was present at this location brighter than mag about 18 on May 22.6, and an earlier image shows no object to a limiting magnitude of about 18.5. C. Livingston (Curtin University) and J. Biggs and A. Verveer (Perth Observatory) provide the following position for the supernova candidate from an unfiltered CCD image obtained around July 1.493 with the 0.25-m Mike Candy Telescope at Perth Observatory: R.A. = 13h19m48s.53 +/- 0s.02, Decl. = -27o24'04".5 +/- 0".2 (2000); mag 16.5), which is about 36" northwest of the centre of NGC 5078. IAUC 7214 (extract) SUPERNOVA 1999da IN NGC 6411 R. Johnson and W. D. Li, University of California at Berkeley, on behalf of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search, report the discovery of an apparent supernova with the 0.8-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT). SN 1999da was discovered on unfiltered images taken on July 5.4 UT (mag about 17.0) and confirmed on images taken on July 2.4 (mag about 17.6). The new object is at: R.A. = 17h35m22s.96, Decl. = +60o48'49".3 (2000), which is 71".3W and 1".2N of the nucleus of NGC 6411. IAUC 7215 (extract) NOVA IN M31 M. Modjaz and W. D. Li, University of California at Berkeley, on behalf of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search, report the discovery with the 0.8-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) of an apparent nova in M31 (NGC 224). The object was discovered and confirmed on unfiltered CCD frames obtained on July 1.4 and 2.4 UT (mag about 16.8 on both images). The new star is located at R.A. = 0h42m49s.5, Decl. = +41o15'06"(2000), which is 60"E and 63"S of the nucleus of M31. IAUC 7218 (extract) Guy M Hurst