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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1613      2001 Mar 03 14.56UT
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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SUPERNOVA 2001V IN NGC 3987
S. Jha, T. Matheson, P. Challis, and R. Kirshner, Harvard-
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, report the discovery of a
supernova (mag 16) by P. Berlind on Feb. 19.38 UT with the F. L.
Whipple Observatory 1.5-m telescope (+ FAST spectrograph).
Concurrent images taken with the Observatory's 1.2-m telescope (+
4Shooter) yield the following precise position for SN 2001V:  R.A.
= 11h57m24s.93, Decl. = +25o12'09".0 (2000), which is 52" east and
28" north of the host galaxy's nucleus.
IAUC 7585 (extract)

COMET C/2000 W1 (UTSUNOMIYA-JONES) FADING
C. W. Hergenrother, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, reports
that this comet has undergone a rapid fading, with R-band
photometry showing m_1 about 16.5 for a 1'.7 coma on a co-added
2400-s CCD exposure taken on Feb. 12.6 UT with the Catalina 1.5-m
reflector.  No nuclear condensation was visible to a limiting mag
of 21.0.  Earlier visual m_1 estimates:  Jan. 17.86, 10.1 (Y.Nagai,
Yamanashi, Japan, 0.32-m reflector); 22.88, 10.5 (K.Yoshimoto,
Yamaguchi, Japan, 0.25-m reflector); 28.77, 12.0: (M.Mattiazzo,
Wallaroo, S. Australia, 0.20-m reflector).
IAUC 7586

S/2001 (87) 1
M. E. Brown and J. L. Margot, California Institute of Technology,
report the discovery of a satellite to (87) Sylvia. The projected
separation between primary and secondary was 0".59 (1200 km) in
p.a. 97 deg on H-band images obtained on Feb. 18.5 UT using the
adaptive-optics system at the 10-m W. M. Keck II telescope on Mauna
Kea.  Little relative motion was apparent in images obtained an
hour apart (upper limit 0".02).  The brightness ratio was measured
to be 420 +/- 70, implying a about 1:20 ratio of diameters.
Confirming observations were obtained at the Keck II telescope by
I. de Pater and H. Roe on Feb. 19.4, 20.4, and 22.4, and the data
indicate an orbital period on the order of 4 days.
IAUC 7588

2001 DO_47 = WIND SPACE PROBE
The designation 2001 DO_47 was given on Feb. 21 to a fast-moving,
apparently asteroidal object discovered by Spacewatch on Feb. 19
and that was clearly going to pass 0.0039 AU from the earth on
Feb. 23.  Nevertheless, the resemblance of the heliocentric orbital
elements (a = 1.010 AU, e = 0.0175, i = 0.047 deg at epoch
2001 Apr. 1; H = 27.3) to those of the earth suggested that the
object might be a manmade object, a suspicion that was heightened
when J. D. Giorgini and L. A. M. Benner, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
noted that the orbit seemed to have become elliptical with respect
to the earth following a very close approach to the moon on
2000 Aug. 19.  Furthermore, observations made during Feb.23-25
showed a marked discontinuity from those of Feb. 19-22.
J.McDowell, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has now
identified the object as the WIND space probe.  He confirms that an
impulse was to be applied to the probe's motion on Feb. 23,
following previous impulses shortly after earlier perigee passages
in Nov. and in Aug. 2000, when the actual minimum distance from
the centre of the moon had been 9300 km.
IAUC 7589

Guy M Hurst