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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2066      2004 Dec 16 16.12UT
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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TRANSIENT IN LYNX
According to Electronic Telegram 101 issued by the Central Bureau,
E. J. Christensen of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, has reported 
the detection of a transient star-like object located at: RA 08 h03m 
24.60s DEC +38 18'35.9" (2000).

The following red magnitudes have been obtained from Catalina Sky Survey 
images (0.68-m Schmidt Telescope):

2004 Dec. 11.4436 UT, 15.9; 11.4549, 17.5; 11.4656, 18.2; 11.5073, 19.6; 
11.5081, 18.9; 11.5090, 19.1; 11.5099, 19.7.

No candidate has been found on the Palomar Sky Survey.

On GCN 2849, Eric Christensen added:
A source that appears to be coincident with our observations has since 
been located in the SDSS archives (RA 120.8528, DEC 38.30967, Src # 
587728932410623203, Gunn r=21.9).  The source is also visible in the 
NEAT SkyMorph archives.
An animation of the event is posted at
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/burst.html


According to GCN 2851 issued today, 2004 Dec 16, S. G. Djorgovski 
(Caltech/Palomar), A. Gal-Yam (Caltech) and P. Price (IfA/UH) report:

We obtained a spectrum of the apparent counterpart of the Optical 
Transient in Lynx, reported by Christensen et al. (GCN 2849), using LRIS 
spectrograph on the WMKO Keck-1 telescope, on UT 2004 Dec 16.6.  The 
object is a probable M dwarf with a prominent H-alpha emission line. 
The colours of the proposed counterpart in the SDSS archive are also 
consistent with a late-type star.  Therefore, the transient was most 
likely an unusually strong stellar flare associated with this star, and 
not a GRB or any other exotic type of an event.

Guy M Hurst