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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2410      2008 Jan 06 18.15UT
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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FIRST SUNSPOTS FROM SOLAR CYCLE 24
Peter Meadows, TA Solar Editor, reports:
The first sunspots from the new solar cycle have been observed. Active 
region 981 appeared on the solar disk on the 2008 January 4 (the first 
SOHO image to show the sunspots was acquired at 06h 24m UT). I observed 
this group on the morning of the Jan 5 as two sunspots with mean solar 
latitude of 28 degrees north and longitude of 249 degrees.  This active 
region is due to cross the central meridian around noon on the Jan 6 and 
reach the western limb on the January 12.

CHRISTMAS QUIZ
Further to TA E-Circular 2406 when the Christmas Quiz was issued, we 
would like to thank all those who have so far entered.
However we have yet to receive a complete set of correct answers so 
would encourage anyone who has so far not entered to do so as soon as 
possible.
In view of this the deadline has been extended to 2008 January 20.

NEW WZ SGE VARIABLE IN HYA
VSNET announced the discovery of an optical transient by Marcin
Sokolowski of the "Pi of the Sky" group at:
RA 11h12m17.40s DEC-35 38'28.8" (2000)

A match was made by Brian Skiff (vsnet-alert 9769) with a faint blue 
GSC2.3 star at: 11 12 17.44 -35 38 30.1 J2000
At R=20.88 and proper motion over several decades, the match is 
consistent.  This gives an amplitude of about 8-9 magnitudes, about 
right for a WZ Sge cataclysmic variable.

Arne Henden, AAVSO, advises that this object is now listed in VSX as VSX 
J111217.4-353828 and can be plotted from VSP using that identifier. He 
adds that latest reports from SRO give the magnitude as V=13.8 and 
remaining very blue, with no strong Halpha signal in the Rc filter.  It 
is  expected this object will start to fade shortly, and observers 
should monitor it nightly.

SUPERNOVA 2007ux IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
Discovery by W. Li of a possible supernova (CBET 1187:
SN      2007 UT      R.A.  (2000.0)  Decl.    Mag.     Offset
2007ux  Dec 23.49   10 09 19.98  +14 59 32.8  18.5   3.7"E, 5.4"N
By Dec 23.49 the object had brightened to magnitude 15.7.
R. Chornock et. al., University of California, Berkeley, report that 
inspection of CCD spectra of 2007 Dec. 31.4 UT reveals it to be a 
supernova of type Ia, with a spectral-feature age of then about 4 days 
before maximum light.

URSID METEORS 2007
P. Jenniskens, SETI Institute, reports on CBET 1188 elevated Ursid 
shower rates between Dec. 22d18h and 23d01h UT, identified as dust 
ejected from comet 8P/Tuttle prior to 900 AD.  The outburst was
detected in radio forward-scatter meteor observations by E. Lyytinen 
(Helsinki, Finland) during Dec. 22d18h-23d01h and by J. Brower 
(Vancouver, BC, Canada) during Dec. 22d18h.5-22d22h.5.

Guy M Hurst