-------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2222      2006 Apr 25 11.50UT
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      Backup: gmh@wdcc1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk
WORLD WIDE WEB                         http://www.theastronomer.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
SUPERNOVA 2006bl IN MCG +02-40-9
On 2006 April 4, Tom Boles e-mailed us to report that an apparent 
supernova, of magnitude 17.3, had been recorded on 10 images secured on 
a single night, in the galaxy MCG +02-40-9 during the course of searches 
for the UK Nova/Supernova Patrol.

The unfiltered CCD images centred on 2006 April 4.063UT were obtained 
with a 0.35-m Schmidt-Cassegrain from which the following position was 
measured:

RA 15h 39m 50.62s DEC +14 11' 21.3" (2000), which is approximately 1.5" 
W and 6.2" N of the centre of the host galaxy.

The suspect is not present on Tom's images of 2005 June 10 and 2006 Jan 
28 (limiting mag 19.5) and it is also not recorded on DSS II red 
(1992.470 limiting mag 20.5) or blue plates (1990.453 limiting mag 21.0)

In a further e-mail of April 5, Tom reported that he had obtained a 
confirmatory image of the object at a similar magnitude on April 4.943UT 
which gave end positional figures of:
RA 50.63s and DEC 21.2".

The object has been designated supernova 2006bl and announced on IAUC 
8698. Congratulations to Tom on the discovery of his 101st supernova.

In Electronic Telegram 480 issued by the Central Bureau on April 24, S. 
Blondin, et. al., Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, report 
that a spectrum (range 350-740 nm), obtained on Apr. 23.34 UT by J. 
Hernandez (University of Michigan) with the F. L. Whipple Observatory 
1.5-m telescope (+ FAST), shows it to be a type-II supernova around 
maximum light.

Guy M Hurst