------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1981 2004 Mar 19 19.45UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- NOVA SAGITTARII 2004 Hideo Nishimura, Japan has reported on IAUC 8306 the discovery of a possible nova of magnitude 9.4 at: RA 18h 19m 28s DEC -28 35' 34" (2000) from two Fuji T-Max films taken around Mar. 15.82 UT with a Pentax 200-mm f/4 lens. Bill Liller, Chile has also e-mailed an independent discovery of the object of magnitude 8.2 on two Technical Pan films taken with an 85-mm Nikon camera lens (+ red filter) on Mar. 17.34 at: RA 18h 19.6s DEC -28 35' (2000). Jonathan Shanklin e-mails that he took some images with a Nikon Coolpix 4300 on March 17 from Rothera, Antarctica which included one of the Sco/Sgr star clouds. Somewhat to his surprise this just gets faint enough to record the nova which he estimated it at 8.0 on March 17.190. Akira Takao, Japan reports that an image obtained on March 9.840UT with a 120mm f4 telephoto lens and ST-8 CCD (unfiltered) did not show the possible nova to a limit of 12.8. SUPERNOVA 2004au IN MCG +04-42-2 LOSS discovery of a possible supernova (IAUC 8305): SN 2004 UT R.A. (2000.0) Decl. Mag. Offset 2004au Mar. 9.55 17 42 02.98 +25 37 11.9 18.8 4.2"E, 0.6"S Guy M Hurst