------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2807 2012 Mar 19 20.10UT 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PSN J10435372+1140177 = ERUPTIVE OBJECT IN MESSIER 95 A number of reports in recent days have been received during the editor's absence suggesting there may be an eruptive object in the field of Messier 95. Some the earliest reports to the AAVSO were apparently dismissed as artefacts due to the glow from the close proximity of the planet Mars. Nick James submitted images of an apparent new object of 2012 Mar 18 obtained at 21h22m06s on 5x 120sec exposures obtained with a Megrez 72 + SXV-H9 and 21h18m09s 10x60sec exposures using a Celestron 11 + ST9XE. Astrometry: Mar 18.88420UT RA 10h43m53.73s DEC +11 40' 17.7" mag 13.4R (station 970). A further report from David Strange using a C8 Hyperstar showed the object present on 15x30sec exposures on Mar 19 at 01h04mUT. The object has not been spectroscopically confirmed and some earlier work on its spectrum suggests it may merely be a cataclysmic variable in the same field as the galaxy. Mario Motta, AAVSO, relays the following: A possible supernova of magnitude about R = 13 was discovered by J. Skvarc on 2012 Mar 17.90UT on four 60 s CCD images taken with a 0.60-m f/3.3 Cichocki telescope from the Crni Vrh Observatory. The object is at R.A. = 10h43m53s.72, Decl. = +11d40'17".7 (equinox J2000), which is 60" W and 115" S from the centre of M95. Nothing is visible on this location in our archive images from 2005 Apr 25, May 1; 2006 May 4, 2008 Nov 22, 2010 Feb 13 and 24 and 2012 Feb 15 and it is also absent from Sky Survey images. There may also be a link with an X-ray source just 3.3" distant and referred to in a 2006 paper: http://cdsbib.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/cdsbib?2006ApJ...647.1030S The image composed of all 4 discovery images can be found at www.observatorij.org/vstars/PSN20120317/PSNJ10435372+1140177.jpg Regardless of the nature of this object the editor would welcome further reports and also any older images of the field which might show the presence of the eruptive object at an earlier date. Guy M Hurst