-------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1532      2000 Jun 04 21.45UT
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPTON GAMMA RAY OBSERVATORY
Further to the announcement on E1524 in relation to gamma ray
bursters, as recently discussed at Huntsville, we have now
received confirmation that the Observatory was brought into a
final orbit at 93 miles above the Earth earlier today. Department
of Defence Aircraft followed the final decent into the Pacific
Ocean and confirmed the Observatory had broken apart before
pieces landed at their intended landing site early this morning.

For those of us who attended Huntsville (see also the May issue
of 'The Astronomer' for a special article), we can understand
the sorrow amongst the NASA engineers we met especially as the
Observatory was generating numerous alerts of Gamma Ray Bursters.
Since its launch in 1991 it had completed over 51,000 orbits of
the Earth.

We are currently reviewing remaining satellite monitoring and
future launches in the quest for amateurs to record GRB afterglows
and will keep you informed of progress.

V660 HERCULIS (Q2000/267)
Gary Poyner, Birmingham draws our attention to observations
of this eruptive variable on the Recurrent Objects Programme
for which Jochen Pietz, Germany, has detected an outburst:
2000 June 2.000UT, 14.34C; 2.029, 14.40C
(unfiltered CCD images).
Gary suggests CCD monitoring for possible superhumps.

SUPERNOVA 2000cl IN NGC 3318
Robin Chassagne, Ste. Clotilde, Ile de Reunion, reports the
discovery of an apparent supernova (mag 14.8) on two unfiltered CCD
images (limiting mag 20) taken with a 0.305-m telescope on May
26.666 and 27.729 UT.  SN 2000cl is located at:
R.A. = 10h37m16s.07, Decl. = -41o37'47".8 (2000), which is 6" east
and 7" south of the centre of NGC 3318.  Nothing appears at this
location on an image obtained by Chassagne on 2000 Feb. 2 (limiting
mag 20) or on a U.K. Schmidt (Digital Sky Survey) image taken on
1980 Jan. 24 (limiting mag about 22).

A. Maury, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, writes:  "L. Vanzi,
L. Testi, C. Lidman, and I obtained a fully reduced 30-min spectrum
of SN 2000cl with the 1.5-m Danish telescope (+ DFOSC) at the
European Southern Observatory on May 27 UT.  The spectrum shows the
typical features of a type-II supernova:  broad H-alpha, H-beta,
and He I at 587.5 nm (the latter with a clear P-Cyg profile).  An
image and the spectrum may be viewed at
http://sc6.sc.eso.org/~lvanzi/sn3318.html."
IAUC 7432

Guy M Hurst