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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2252      2006 Aug 07 13.18UT
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
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THE ASTRONOMER ANNUAL MEETING, 2006 SEPTEMBER 23
Further to TA E-Circular 2247, this is a final reminder that the 
deadline for booking this event at the discounted rate of £7.00 is 
August 10. Beyond this date the admission is £8.50. In addition to 
speakers announced earlier, Brendan Shaw who will be talking on: "Early 
attempts at Spectroscopy".

V2362 CYGNI
This nova is currently about magnitude 12 and the decline rate has 
slowed considerably. Unfortunately it has been seriously under-observed 
and a new chart with sequence notes have appeared on CSN 0122 and 0123 
issued on August 4.

V402 ANDROMEDAE
Hiroyuki Maehara, Japan, has reported that V402 Andromedae is in 
outburst as follows:
2006 Aug 3.77922UT, 15.55V.
He adds that he carried out time-resolved photometry of V402 And on Aug. 
4 and 5. The data on Aug. 5 show superhumps with an amplitude of 0.3 
mag.
A light curve can be seen at
http://www.cetus-net.org/ftp/light_curves/andv402-20060805.png

Gary Poyner, Birmingham, comments that this recurrent objects programme 
star (UGSU) in outburst and the first recorded outburst since the 2005 
October superoutburst.  Observations are encouraged to see whether this 
bright outburst is another superoutburst. The supercycle of this system 
is as yet unknown. Charts can be found on both the BAAVSS & AAVSO 
websites.  The AAVSO 'F' chart is taken from a Digitised Sky Survey 
image (limit 19.0) and may be better for CCD users.

S/2006 (624) 1
F. Marchis and M. H. Wong, University of California at Berkeley
(UCB) et. al., report on IAUC 8732 the discovery of a satellite of (624) 
Hektor using the Keck-II telescope. Observations of this L4 Trojan minor 
planet (V = 14.4), clearly show the presence of a moonlet companion at 
0".36 (p.a. 250 deg) from the primary. The shape of the resolved primary 
can be approximated by an ellipse with major and minor axes 2a = 350 km 
and 2b = 210 km, but images further indicate the primary may have a 
bilobated shape.  Based on the integrated brightness ratio between the 
moonlet and the primary of about 6.5, the diameter of S/2006 (624) 1 is 
estimated to be about 15 km.

SUPERNOVA 2006ds IN PGC 70011
Discovery by Y.-S. Tsai and K.-C. Lu of a possible supernova (IAUC 
8732):
SN      2005 UT      R.A.  (2000.0)  Decl.    Mag.     Offset
2006ds  July 18.80  22 55 18.32  -33 55 17.5  16.1    5.4"W, 3.6"S
This is a type-II supernova according to CBET 580.

SUPERNOVA 2006dt IN NGC 5681
Discovery by LOSS of a possible supernova (IAUC 8732):
SN      2005 UT      R.A.  (2000.0)  Decl.    Mag.     Offset
2006dt  July 20.20  14 35 43.11  +08 17 55.8  16.8    2.9"E, 6.2"S
This is a type Ia near maximum on July 21 (CBET 582).

Guy M Hurst