-------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1511      2000 Apr 11 08.09UT
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------
AURORAL STORM: 2000 APRIL 06-07
Tom McEwan, TA Aurora Editor reports:
The first major auroral storm of  solar cycle 23 occurred on the
evening of April 06-07.   The event appears to have been triggered
by a CME observed by SOHO on April 4th at 1541 UT.  The ACE
spacecraft recorded the resulting shock wave on April 6th at 1600
UT when the solar wind speed suddenly increased from 375 km/s to
almost 600 km/s.   Severe geomagnetic storm conditions ensued and
the aurora was seen to emerge from darkening twilight skies across
Europe.

At the time of writing - only a few days after the event - reports
and information are still arriving by e-mail and the true extent
and nature of the storm has yet to be assessed.  However, there is
no doubt that this has been one of  the brightest and most
colourful displays of the last 10 years.  To date, reports have
arrived from:  Scotland, England, France, Belgium, Holland and
Austria.  In the USA the display penetrated (at least) as far south
as Central Florida, sightings have also been made from southern
Australia.

Over the UK (thankfully cloud-free on this occasion!) the display
was observed from Fair Isle in the north right down to the English
Channel.  From Central Scotland/Northern England frequent 'coronal'
peaks, vividly coloured red and green (white, yellow and blue forms
have also been reported),  were recorded from 2030 - 0100 UT.  Even
from Southern England the display filled 3/4-sky at peak times.

More details on this outstanding aurora are expected to arrive.  A
full, detailed account of the event will appear in next month's TA.
Editor- Please e-mail reports to Tom at: tmcewan@kersland.u-net.com

SUPERNOVAE 2000av-2000bf
Further to E1506, B. E. Schaefer reports eleven additional
apparent supernovae.
SN       2000 UT     R.A.  (2000.0)  Decl.     R      Offset
2000av   Mar. 10    7 38 28.85  - 1 44 16.0   20.1    0" E, 1" S
2000aw   Mar. 10    8 01 34.00  - 1 57 14.3   19.4    0" E, 0" N
2000ax   Mar. 10    8 44 16.35  - 0 43 02.7   20.6    0" E, 1" S
2000ay   Mar. 10    9 05 44.86  - 1 39 52.8   19.8    0" E, 1" N
2000az   Mar. 10    9 18 02.15  - 2 16 58.9   19.8    0" E, 1" N
2000ba   Mar.  9   10 16 02.05  - 1 53 39.9   19.9        ---
2000bb   Mar.  1   10 32 38.83  - 2 00 24.2   20.2    1" E, 0" N
2000bc   Mar.  9   10 33 06.30  - 1 00 21.2   18.9    3" E, 2" S
2000bd   Mar. 10   13 07 20.81  - 1 05 08.1   20.5    1" W, 1" S
2000be   Mar.  9   15 12 03.38  - 0 00 04.1   20.1    0" E, 0" N
2000bf   Mar.  9   15 12 18.37  - 1 39 17.5   20.7    0" E, 0" N
IAUC 7391 (extract)

SUPERNOVA 2000bg IN NGC 6240
Y. Sato and W. D. Li, University of California at Berkeley, report
the discovery with the 0.8-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope
(KAIT) of an apparent supernova on unfiltered images taken on
Apr. 1.5 and 2.5 UT, both with mag about 17.4.  SN 2000bg is
located at R.A. = 16h52m58s.13, Decl. = +2 23'50".5 (2000), which
is 11".4 west and 12".0 south of the nucleus of NGC 6240.
IAUC 7392 (extract)

Guy M Hurst