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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2537      2009 Apr 06 20.16UT
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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AX PERSEI
U. Munari and A. Siviero, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Padova
Astronomical Observatory and others report on CBET 1757 that the 
symbiotic star AX Per is undergoing a brightening phase. The monitoring 
carried out with several ANS-collaboration telescopes recorded AX Per to 
be still in quiescence at B=12.56, B-V =+1.08, V-I_c =+3.03 on 2009 Feb. 
28, when it started a rapid increase in brightness that took it to B 
=12.07, B-V =0.86, V-I_c =2.68 by Mar. 12, and to B =11.55, B-V =+0.82, 
V-I_c =+2.43 by Apr. 1. Such a bright state has not been reached after 
the major outburst that AX Per underwent between 1988 and 1992. Other 
major outbursts occurred around 1888, 1925, 1950, and 1978, according to 
the historical lightcurve compiled by Skopal et al.

The current event is characterised by a large increase in both the 
intensity and ionisation conditions of the emission-line spectrum, with 
a larger fraction of the circumstellar gas being ionised by the 
radiation field of a hotter and more luminous central source. This extra 
nebular continuum is responsible for the brightness increase and 
"bluing" of the colours.  Quite similar photometric and spectroscopic 
conditions characterized the short-duration flare that AX Per underwent 
about one year before the onset of major 1988-1992 outburst, according 
to the data presented by Mikolajewska and Kenyon.

SUPERNOVA 2009E IN NGC 4141
Further to the notes on TA E-Circulars 2517 and 2536, in response to the 
appeal on CBET 1734, H. Navasardyan, S. Benetti, and F. Bufano, Istituto 
Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova; and Andrea 
Pastorello, Belfast University, report on CBET 1738 that a spectrogram 
(range 380-780 nm, resolution 2.4 nm) obtained on Mar. 24.88 UT with the 
Copernico 1.82-m telescope (+ AFOSC), shows it to be an evolved type-II 
supernova, probably about 3 months after the explosion. The spectrum 
shows prominent lines of H, Ca II, Na I, Fe II, Ti II, Ba II, and Sc II 
with P-Cyg profiles. In particular, in analogy with SN 1987A, the Ba II 
features are unusually strong.  Assuming a recession velocity of 1897 
km/s (Theureau et al. 1998, A.Ap. Suppl. 130, 333; via NED) for the host 
galaxy, the "GELATO" spectrum-comparison code (Harutyunyan et al. 2008, 
A.Ap. 488, 383; available at https://gelato.tng.iac.es) provides good 
fits to spectra of type-II-plateau supernovae towards the end of the 
plateau phase.  The expansion velocity deduced from the H-alpha 
absorption is about 5400 km/s.

SUPERNOVA 2009aj IN ESO 221-18
Discovery by CHASE Project of a possible supernova (CBET 1704):
SN      2009 UT      R.A.  (2000.0)  Decl.    Mag.     Offset
2009aj  Feb 24.26   13 56 45.33  -48 29 36.2  14.5     3.6"E,13.8"N
Nothing is visible at this position on archival images taken on Jan. 
17.25 and Feb. 11.20 (limiting mag 18.5).

Guy M Hurst