------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1936 2003 Oct 28 12.51UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPERNOVA 2003iw IN NGC 7102 On the morning of October 18 we received an e-mail from Tom Boles of Coddenham, England reporting a possible supernova of magnitude 17.6 in NGC 7102 had been recorded on multiple images on a single night (2003 Oct 17). Tom first noted the new object on an unfiltered CCD image taken on 2003 Oct 17.953UT with a 0.35-m reflector in the course of the UK Nova/Supernova Patrol. The new object is located at: RA 21h 39m 43.03s, DEC +06 17'03.0" (2000), which is approximately 22.0"W and 7.5"S of the centre of NGC 7102. The suspect is not present on Tom's images of 2003 Sept 15, 23 and Oct 7, (limiting mag 19.5) and it is not present on Palomar Sky Survey red (1995.568) or blue plates (1995.497) Tom succeeded in obtaining a confirmatory image on Oct 18.304UT. We subsequently received a report of the discovery of the same object by Mark Armstrong with end figures: RA 43.2s DEC 02.3" and the magnitude given as 17.1 from his exposure of Oct 18.87330UT. The object was designated Supernova 2003iw and announced on IAUC 8226. Congratulations to Tom on his 56th supernova discovery and to Mark on his 49th. SUPERNOVA 2003iv IN PGC 10738 The LOTOSS/KAIT team have reported their discovery of a possible supernova in PGC 10738 on IAUC 8226: SN 2003 UT R.A. (2000.0) Decl. Mag. Offset 2003iv Oct. 17.4 2 50 07.25 +12 50 46.5 17.2 23.2"W, 8.3"N NOVA IN MESSIER 31 M. Fiaschi et. al., have reported their discovery of a nova in M31 according to IAUC 8226. The position is: RA 00h 42m 41.11s DEC +41 16' 16.1" (2000). This places the nova 36.2"W and 7.6"N of the centre of the galaxy. The H-alpha magnitude on 2003 Oct 15.9UT was 16.2. 1937 UB (HERMES) Further to the discovery announcement on TA E-Circular 1931 and initial astrometry by Nick James, several other observers have provided follow-up data to Mark Kidger which we hope to publish in his column in the November issue of TA. In addition, J. L. Margot of the University of California, et. al., have reported that radar observations from Arecibo on Oct 18 and 20UT indicate that the asteroid has strongly bifurcated appearance. Two separate components of roughly equal size orbit as a binary pair. Estimates of their diameters range 300-450 m according to IAUC 8227. Guy M Hurst