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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1743      2002 Feb 07 18.22UT
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.theastronomer.org
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QZ SER (Q2002/007)
Patrick Schmeer, Germany, has reported a rare outburst of the
variable star QZ Serpentis (=HadV04, UG:)
2002 Feb 3.23UT, [13.8; 4.228, 11.9; 4.237, 11.8
0.20-m Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Sequence: GSC

This appears to be the first outburst to be observed visually.
Prior to the report by Patrick, only a single positive estimate by
Katsumi Haseda from photographs (then announced as HadV04) was
available: 1998 June 17.547, 12.7p.

John Thorstensen, USA, reports that the identification in the on-
line version of Downes and Shara's cataclysmic atlas was incorrect
although this is now being amended. He quotes a position:

RA 15h 56m 54.46s DEC +21 07' 18.9" (2000).

Andrew Pearce, Nedlands, Western Australia, has e-mailed
confirmation but also suggestion of a rapid fade:
2002 Feb 5.851UT, 12.8.

HT CAS (Q2002/008)
Pavol Dubovsky, Slovakia, has reported via VSNET that he has
observed an outburst of HT Cas on 2002 Feb 5.763UT at 13.6.
Eddy Muyllaert, Belgium, reports confirmation on Feb 5.813UT, at
magnitude 13.8 using the AAVSO sequence.

Bill Worraker has e-mailed us with further positive observations:
2002 Feb 5.882UT, 13.7 and 5.933, 13.3. These were obtained with a
0.35-m reflector using the TA chart (GMH 850120).
He adds that Professor Tim Naylor has suggested follow-up time-
series photometry to cover orbital variations in general and
eclipses in particular. The general rule for publishable data is to
use V-band filtering as default, but if two or more observers can
work simultaneously, then I-band and R-band can also be used, in
that order of priority.

SUPERNOVA 2002at IN NGC 3720
A further LOTOSS supernova discovery was reported on IAUC 7821,
this time in NGC 3720. The KAIT images were of Feb 5.4 and 6.4UT.
The object is located at: RA 11h 32m 21.95s DEC +00 48' 08.8"
(2000), 4.8"E and 6.0"S of the galaxy's nucleus and was recorded at
magnitude 17.8.

Guy M Hurst