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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2579      2009 Sep 01 16.56UT
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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OPTICAL TRANSIT IN UGC 2773
Tom Boles of Coddenham, England, has reported that he has detected an 
optical transient of magnitude 17.6 in the galaxy UGC 2773 during the 
course of searches for the UK Nova/Supernova Patrol.

 From its appearance it was not clear that it was a supernova so he 
consulted Weidong Li for some assistance to test the object using his 
subtraction software. It is now clear that something exists in this 
position but since this galaxy is very close, at 6 Mpc, the absolute 
magnitude of this object is only -11.1. Weidong's guess is that it is 
either a highly reddened supernova or, more likely, a super-outburst of 
a luminous blue variable (LBV). Either way a spectrum would be needed 
for clarification.

The object was first recorded on 2009 Aug 18.082UT and again on Aug 
29.081UT on unfiltered CCD images taken with a 0.35-m Schmidt-Cassegrain 
telescope. It is located at:

RA 03h 32m 07.24s DEC +47 47' 39.6" (2000), which is approximately 0".1 
west and 2".9 south of the centre of UGC 2773. Nothing is present at 
this position on Boles' images from 2007 Dec 12 and 2008 Feb 12 
(limiting mag 19.5) nor on Digitised Sky Survey Plates from 1989-10-07 
(limiting red mag 21.0), and 1989-09-12 (limiting blue mag 20.5).

Guy Hurst reports that a search of a 10' area surrounding UGC 2773 using 
SIMBAD, although revealing several objects, did not produce a candidate 
variable near the position measured by Tom.

Guy M Hurst