------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2517 2009 Jan 04 20.59UT 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 2009E IN NGC 4141 On 2009 January 3 an e-mail was received from Tom Boles of Coddenham, England in which he advised us of the discovery of a supernova in NGC 4141 during the courses of searches for the UK Nova/Supernova Search Programme. The object, of magnitude 17.8, was found on unfiltered CCD images of 2009 Jan 3.058UT and confirmed on 3.921UT using a 0.35-m Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. It is located at: RA 12h 09m 49.56s DEC +58 50' 50.3" (2000) based on an average of two night's measures and is approximately 17.2" E and 6.9"S of the centre of the host galaxy. Nothing is present at this position on Tom's images of 2007 May 29 and 2008 Feb. 6 (limiting mag 19.5) nor on Digitised Sky Survey plates from 1993 May 11 (limiting red mag 20.5) and 1994 Jan. 16 (limiting blue mag 21.0). Supernova 2008X, a type II, also appeared in this galaxy. Congratulations to Tom on the discovery of his 119th supernova. POSSIBLE NEW CATACLYSMIC VARIABLE IN URSA MAJOR An e-mail from Hitoshi Yamaoka, Kyushu University, reports the discovery by K. Itagaki, Japan of a previously unknown variable star on a wide-field survey CCD image taken on 2009 Jan. 2.727 UT with a 0.21-m f/3 reflector. Confirming CCD images taken on Jan. 2.749 with a 0.30-m f/7.8 reflector show the variable's magnitude to be about 14.9 and its position to be: RA 10h 26m 37.04s DEC +47 54' 26.3" (2000). The star was fainter than mag 16.5 on his survey image taken on 2008 Jan. 31.627. A faint blue star in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS J102637.04+475426.3, magnitudes u = 20.2, g = 20.1, r = 20.1, i = 20.2, z = 19.9), has a catalogued position that is identical with the reported object. The outburst amplitude and the colour at its quiescent phase suggest that the variable is possibly a dwarf nova caught in outburst. Nakajima-san observed this new CV and detected superhumps. The superhump period was around 0.074(2) d, with a mean amplitude of 0.09 mag. Further observations are encouraged to determine the superhump period more precisely. Guy M Hurst