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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1775      2002 May 26 18.38UT
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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TAV J0758+252 (Q2002/011)
Ron Arbour, South Wonston, England reports his discovery of an
uncatalogued variable near NGC 2486 on supernova search images of
2002 February 15 obtained with the 0.3-m Schmidt-Cassegrain
telescope and an unfiltered Starlight Xpress MX916 CCD camera.

>From the preliminary measured position, the editor, using SIMBAD,
noted the object was listed in the USNO A2.0 catalogued:

1125_05438962 RA 07h 58m 04.54s DEC +25 09' 25.62" (2000).

The catalogued magnitudes are R=15.4 and B=17.4 which, using the
formula in Guide 8, gives a very approximate V value of 16.1.

Using a preliminary sequence with approximate V values in the range
15-17.6, an analysis shows the object was at 16.0 on Feb 14.945UT
whereas it had faded to 17.2 on Feb 15.842UT. By Feb 16.900UT, it
had returned to 16.0.

On April 12, a fade was noted to about 17.1 on Apr. 12.863 but the
star had returned to 16.0 by Apr. 12.882UT. On this date Ron
alerted David Briggs who was using the 0.60-m f/4.75 telescope of
Hampshire Astronomical Group in conjunction with an unfiltered
MX916. On an image of Apr. 12.877UT the object was noted to be
faint at 16.7 but had brightened on a later image.

The above data may suggest the object is an eclipsing binary but
further analysis is underway and details will appear in TA in due
course.

Our congratulations to Ron on detecting this new object.

Guy M Hurst