------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1644 2001 May 31 20.36UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET C/2001 K5 (LINEAR) An object reported as asteroidal by the LINEAR program on May 17 (with prediscovery LINEAR observations on Apr. 30 identified by G. V. Williams) and posted on The NEO Confirmation Page has been found to be slightly diffuse with coma diameter 8" on CCD images taken at Klet on May 27.0 UT by M. Tichy and J. Ticha and to be strongly condensed with a 12" coma and a 13" tail in p.a. 210 deg on 300-s R-band exposures taken with the 1.8-m f/1 Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope at Mt. Graham on May 27.3 by C. W. Hergenrother, T. B. Spahr, and M. Nelson. 2001 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. m1 May 17.27721 15 28 10.02 -24 47 39.1 16.7 Preliminary orbital elements: T = 2002 Oct. 11.586 TT Peri. = 46.950 Node = 237.461 2000.0 q = 5.19269 AU Incl. = 72.691 2001 TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase m1 May 31 15 20.70 -23 05.4 5.393 6.372 163.5 2.6 14.2 June 5 15 18.16 -22 27.5 5.397 6.351 158.3 3.4 14.2 10 15 15.78 -21 49.8 5.409 6.330 152.9 4.2 14.2 15 15 13.57 -21 12.4 5.429 6.310 147.6 4.9 14.2 20 15 11.57 -20 35.7 5.455 6.290 142.3 5.7 14.2 25 15 09.79 -19 59.8 5.488 6.270 137.0 6.4 14.2 30 15 08.26 -19 25.1 5.527 6.249 131.7 7.0 14.2 IAUC 7634 SUPERNOVA 2001bs IN UGC 10018 S. Beckman and W. D. Li, University of California at Berkeley, report the discovery by LOTOSS (cf. IAUC 7514) of an apparent supernova in unfiltered images taken with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) on May 22.4 UT (mag about 18.3) and May 23.3 UT (mag about 18.2). The new object is located at: R.A. = 15h43m39s.38, Decl. = +67o45'31".3 (2000), which is 0".9 west and 7".7 south of UGC 10018. IAUC 7631 (extract) SUPERNOVA 2001bt IN IC 4830 R. Chassagne, Ste. Clotilde, Ile de Reunion, reports the discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 15.0) on unfiltered CCD images taken with a 0.30-m f/2.7 telescope on May 24.0 and 24.9 UT. The object is located at R.A. = 19h13m46s.75, Decl. = -59o17'22".8 (2000), which is 27".7 west and 17".1 north of the nucleus of IC 4830. An image of the same field taken on May 5.0 showed nothing at this position (limiting mag 19). The U.K. Schmidt image in the Digital Sky Survey (1975 May 10.7 UT) also showed nothing at this position (limiting mag 21). IAUC 7633 Guy M Hurst