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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1612      2001 Mar 03 14.01UT
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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(20000) 2000 WR106
The editorial notice in MPC 41805 carries the following paragraph:
'The past six weeks have witnessed, not only the discovery, but
also precovery observations back to 1954 and a size and albedo
measurement, of the largest cubewano found so far. At 900km, the
transneptunian object 2000 WR106 has a diameter that is essentially
the same as (1) Ceres, the largest member of the cisjovian belt.
The coincidence of this recognition with the Ceres bicentennial
makes it particularly appropriate that 2000 WR106 should be
numbered (20000).'
MPC 41805

T. L. Farnham, University of Texas, writes:  "R- and V-band
CCD photometry of (20000), obtained at the McDonald Observatory
2.1-m telescope on Jan. 24-27, shows a single-peaked rotational
lightcurve with a probable period of 3.17 hr, though 2.78 and 3.67
hr cannot be ruled out.  The 0.5-mag amplitude suggests that one
hemisphere reflects at least 60 percent more light than the other.
Less likely (with diameter about 900 km; cf. IAUC 7554), the
lightcurve could be double-peaked with a 6.34-hr period, which
would imply that (20000) has an axial ratio a/b >= 1.6."
IAUC 7583

SUPERNOVA 2001S IN UGC 5491
T. Puckett, Mountain Town, GA; and A. Sehgal, Woodinville, WA,
report the discovery of an apparent supernova (mag 17.8) on an
unfiltered CCD frame (limiting mag 20.1) taken with the Puckett
Observatory 0.60-m automated supernova patrol telescope on Feb.
6.26 UT.  SN 2001S is located at R.A. = 10h11m57s.20, Decl. =
+58o52'02".9 (2000), which is 7".7 west and 10".0 north of the
centre of UGC 5491.  The new object was confirmed on CCD frames
taken on Feb. 7.01.
IAUC 7580 (extract)

SUPERNOVA 2001T IN MCG -02-37-6
X. J. Jiang, Y. L. Qiu, and J. Y. Hu, on behalf of Beijing
Astronomical Observatory (BAO) Supernova Survey, report the
discovery of an apparent supernova found on unfiltered images taken
with the BAO 0.6-m telescope on Feb. 6.9 (mag about 17.0) and 8.9
UT (mag about 16.8).  SN 2001T is located at R.A. = 14h32m53s.17,
Decl. = -12o58'43".6 (2000), which is 3".1 east and 12".6 south of
the nucleus of MCG -02-37-6.
IAUC 7581 (extract)

SUPERNOVA 2001U IN NGC 5442
M. Schwartz, Cottage Grove, OR; and W. D. Li, University of
California at Berkeley, on behalf of LOTOSS, report the discovery
of an apparent supernova (mag about 17.7) on an unfiltered image
taken with the 0.5-m Tenagra III telescope on Feb.15.5 UT
(confirmed at mag about 17.3 on an earlier KAIT image taken
on Feb. 3.5).  SN 2001U is located at R.A. = 14h04m42s.94, Decl. =
-9 42'29".7 (2000), which is 4".7 west and 18".7 north of the
nucleus of NGC 5442.
IAUC 7583 (extract)

Guy M Hurst