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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1503      2000 Mar 18 20.40UT
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 SCUTI 2000
Katsumi Haseda, Aichi, Japan, reports his discovery of an
apparent nova (mag 10.6) on unfiltered Kodak T-Max 400 films taken
on Mar. 5.810 UT with 0.10-m f/4 twin patrol cameras.  Exposures by
Haseda on Mar. 13.82 give mag 11.6, and an earlier image on Feb.
6.844 shows the star at mag 12.0.  An unfiltered CCD image taken by
M. Uemura and T. Kato, Kyoto University, on Mar. 14.85 yields mag
11.2 and the following position for N Sct 2000 (measured by
H.Yamaoka, Kyushu University):
R.A. = 18h34m03s.16, Decl. = -14o45'11".5 (2000). Yamaoka further
reports that spectra of the star taken on Mar. 16.81 by M. Fujii,
Kurashiki, Okayama, with a 0.28-m reflector show strong H-alpha
emission (FWHM = 940 km/s, steeper blueward), indicating that this
is indeed a nova; emission lines of H-beta and Fe II are also
detected with blueward steepness or weak absorption.  An image
obtained by J.Quinn and P. Garnavich with the 1.8-m Vatican
Advanced Technology Telescope at Mt. Graham on Mar. 16.5 shows the
nova at R = 11.3 +/- 0.1, and they note that it appears to be quite
blue from UBVRI images; Garnavich adds that comparison with a
IIIa-F (red) U.K. Schmidt plate taken on 1988 Apr. 23 shows a
clumping of very faint stars near the nova's position, but that if
a precursor is present, it must be fainter than mag 18.
IAUC 7382 (extract)

LA PALMA OBSERVING RUN
The current observing run on Z Cam, U Gem and V426 Oph is to be
extended. Please continue to send in e-mailed reports daily up to
and including March 25. Thanks to the numerous observers who
have contributed results to our daily reports so far.

SUPERNOVA 2000Q IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
Y. Sato and W. D. Li, University of California at Berkeley (UCB),
on behalf of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search, report the
discovery with the 0.8-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT)
of a supernova (mag about 17.8) on an unfiltered image taken on
Mar. 12.5 UT.  SN 2000Q is located at:
R.A. = 16h05m11s.85, Decl. = +69o39'51".5 (2000), which is 4".1
east and 1".6 north of the nucleus of an anonymous galaxy that is
in turn about 218" east and 7" south of the galaxy NGC 6079.
An unfiltered image taken on Mar. 1.5 showed nothing at the
position of the new object (limiting mag about 19.0).
IAUC 7380 (extract)

V4642 SAGITTARII = NOVA SAGITTARII 2000
N. N. Samus, Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow, on behalf of
IAU Commission 27, announces the designation V4642 Sgr has now been
given to this nova (cf E1496).
Andrew Pearce, Australia, e-mails the following estimates:
2000 Mar. 2.845, 12.6; 4.809, 12.7; 6.874, 12.7; 7.865, 12.7.

Guy M Hurst