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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2491      2008 Oct 10 08.24UT
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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EDITOR'S ABSENCE
The editor will be attending the TA annual meeting this weekend and will 
be away from tonight, Friday October 10 returning on Sunday October 12. 
As both assistant editors are also away at this time, Martin Mobberley 
has again kindly agreed to handle urgent potential discovery reports for 
any major events. Martin can be contacted at:
martin.mobberley@btinternet.com
Telephone: (01284)828431
Please confirm phone calls with an Internet message to Martin and a copy 
to the editor for review upon my return.

V1721 AQUILAE = NOVA AQUILAE 2008 = POSSIBLE NOVA IN AQUILA
The object reported on TA E-Circular 2488 has now been designated as 
V1721 Aquilae according to E. Kazarovets.
D. D. Balam, University of Victoria, reports that a spectrogram
obtained on Sept. 23.16 using the 1.82-m Plaskett Telescope, exhibits a 
strongly increasing continuum from 600 to 703 nm with a broad and 
flat-topped emission (HWZI about 2700 km/s, 6.5
nm) at the position of H_alpha.

QY MUSCAE
Bill Liller, Chile, reports on IAUC 8990 and direct to us his discovery 
of an apparent nova of magnitude 8.6 on a pair of Technical Pan 
photographs taken on 2008 Sept. 28.998 UT with a 85-mm camera lens (+ 
orange filter).  The new object is located at:
RA 13h 16m 30s DEC -67 37.0' (2000); additional magnitudes from
Liller:  Sept. 15.023, [11.5; Oct. 4.032, 8.9.  Liller adds that a
weak spectrogram taken on Oct. 4.015 with a Schmidt camera of focal
length 300 mm (+ orange filter + Technical Pan film + 100-mm x 100- mm 
transmission grating with 75 grooves/mm) shows a single broad emission 
line at the expected position of H_alpha (width at least approximately 
230 nm).
V. Tabur, Australian Capital Territory, reports that his unfiltered CCD 
images yield the following position (estimated uncertainty +/- 4") for 
the apparent nova:
RA  13h 16m 36.22s DEC -67 36'50.7"; while the variable is involved with 
a nearby star due to the defocused images, he provides the following 
magnitudes for the apparent nova:  Sept. 19.418, [11.6;21.378, 9.9; 
23.401, 9.8; 24.378, 9.7; 25.378, 9.2; 27.389, 8.7;28.383, 8.6; 29.436, 
8.5 (cloud interfering); 30.397, 8.1; Oct.1.395, 8.3.
Brian Skiff, Lowell Observatory, reports that a USNO-B1.0- catalogue 
star of blue mag 19.9 and red mag 17.5 has position
end figures 36s.47, 47".9
E. Kazarovets reports that the GCVS team assigns the designation QY Mus 
to this object.

SUPERNOVA 2008fx IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
Discovery by Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey (CRTS) of a possible 
supernova (CBET 1523):
SN      2008 UT      R.A.  (2000.0)  Decl.    Mag.     Offset
2008fx  Sep. 23.32  02 11 33.98  +23 52 49.6  17.7    23.1"E,17.8"S

SUPERNOVA 2008fy IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
Discovery by Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey (CRTS) of a possible 
supernova (CBET 1523):
SN      2008 UT      R.A.  (2000.0)  Decl.    Mag.     Offset
2008fy  Sep. 30.38  02 24 08.86  +26 40 10.3  19.2     0.6"W,18.3"N

Guy M Hurst