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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2777      2011 Nov 13 13.20UT
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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V900 MONOCEROTIS
Following a communication to the Central Bureau by J. Thommes (San 
Diego, California) of the discovery in the LDN 1656 cloud in Monoceros 
of a compact reflection nebula that was not visible on the first Palomar 
Sky Survey plates, B. Reipurth et. al., report on CBET 2795 that optical 
and infrared low- and high-resolution spectroscopy of the illuminating 
star located at:
RA 6h57m22.2s DEC -8 23' 18" (2000) show an absorption-line spectrum 
with great similarity to FU Ori, albeit with significantly more 
reddening.

Spectral analysis suggests that the star is a new member of the rare 
"FUor" class of young eruptive variables.  Optical imaging obtained at 
the Gemini-North telescope shows a bright, compact reflection nebula 
surrounding the star, and photometry indicates an SDSS r'-band magnitude 
of 16.11 (0.05) in a 1"-radius aperture, and 14.59 (0.05) in a 5"-radius 
aperture.  Gemini-North NIRI photometry yields J = 9.80, H = 8.44, K = 
7.33 on 2010 Oct. 14, whereas the 2MASS catalogue lists the following 
magnitudes for the star (2MASS J06572222-0823176): J = 11.50, H = 9.99, 
K = 9.00 (i.e., significantly fainter.  Spitzer IRAC magnitudes for the 
star are I1 = 6.90, I2 = 6.16, I3 = 5.42, I4 = 4.50.

N. Samus and E. Kazarovets (Institute of Astronomy, Moscow) have 
assigned this variable the designation V900 Mon.

URANUS
Since the announcement on TA E-Circular 2776 we have received a number 
of images of Uranus but the results are inconclusive as any possible 
'spot activity' is near the limit of resolution in most amateur 
telescopes as we expected.

However it may be worth further attempts for those who have access to 
large quality robotic telescopes so we would welcome further 
contributions.

SUPERNOVA 2011ff IN UGC 12179 (SIMONE LEONINI)
2011ff  Aug 22.96   22 45 02.2   +34 00 15.0  16.8  18  "W,  30  "N
Dave Balam: spectrum Aug 25 with 1.8-m Plaskett telescope indicates it 
is type-Ia then near maximum light.

SUPERNOVA 2011fg (ROTSE)
2011fg  Aug 20.22   23 23 20.59  +16 47 41.3  16.6   1.5"W,   1.1"S
Rostopchin: spectrum Aug 24 suggests peculiar type-Ia

SUPERNOVA 2011fh IN NGC 4806 (MONARD)
2011fh  Aug 24.74   12 56 14.01  -29 29 54.8  14.5  14  "E,  21  "N
Photometric measurements on archived images taken at the Klein Karoo 
Observatory on several occasions in 2011 showed a brightening of this 
region starting around 2011 Feb. 11.190 (mag 17.0) and gradually 
brightening to mag 16.4 around June 2.812 and to mag 16.0 on Aug. 2.710 
(which was the last observation prior to the discovery on Aug. 24).
Prieto: Spectrum Aug. 29 characteristic of type-IIn supernovae.

Guy M Hurst