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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1770      2002 May 05 10.13UT
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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ROBERT STOBIE
Cliff Turk, Cederberg Observatory, South Africa, has sent us the
sad news that Dr. Robert Stobie, Director of the South African
Astronomical Observatory died on May 2. Cliff received a telephone
call from the Observatory advising that Bob went into hospital for
a by-pass operation and was apparently satisfactory around mid
afternoon, but had a heart attack a couple of hours later.

He was a Fellow of RAS and on the IAU Working Group on Controlling
Light Pollution. 

We extend condolences to Bob's family and friends.

SUPERNOVAE 2002cl-2002co
G. Altavilla et.al., Osservatorio di Padova, have reported the
discovery of four supernovae in a report appearing on IAUC 7885.
All four were of V magnitude 21.6 or fainter in anonymous galaxies
and were noted on CCD frames of April 7/8.

V838 MONOCEROTIS
Recent reports on IAUC 7886 from T. Rauch, University of Tuebingen
and others suggest there has been a dramatic change in the spectrum
of V838 Mon. In particular the photospheric temperature had dropped
from 4000K on March 9 to 3000K in observations from April 16-22.
This has been interpreted as an expansion of the photosphere, a
feature of late helium-flash objects such as V4334 Sgr rather than
of a typical nova.

The editor notes that Francisco Pujol has reported on VSNET an
apparent sharp deline in the visual magnitude of this object:
April 19.91UT, 9.7; 20.90, 10.5; 27.92, 12.2.

It is appreciated the object is now badly placed but we would
appreciate immediate notification of any recent observations.

Guy M Hurst