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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 3052      2015 Jan 10 17.04UT
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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MASTER OT J182948.42+554255.9 - Cataclysmic Variable?
O. Cress (Irkutsk) et. al., report on ATEL 6888 that the MASTER-Tunka
auto-detection system discovered an optical transient (OT) source at:

RA 18h 29m 48.42s DEC +55d 42m 55.9s (2000) on 2015 Jan 08.945UT. 

The OT unfiltered magnitude is 16.8m (limit 18.4m). The OT is seen in 7
images. There is no minor planet at this place. 

A reference image without the OT has been found for 2011 Oct 01.532UT with
unfiltered magnitude limit 19.9m. There is a GALEX-DR5 and AllWISE object
with a 3 arcsec offset. 

SUPERNOVA 2014du IN UCG 1899 (F. CIABATTARI ET. AL.)
2014du  Oct 31.84   02 26 23.31  +27 39 34.8  17.4  38  "W   18  "N 
P. Ochner: spectrum Nov 2 with the Asiago 182-cm Copernico Telescope under
the Asiago Transient Classification Program shows that this is a type-Ia
supernova. A good match is found with several type-Ia supernovae around one
week before B-band maximum light.
CBET 4022 issued 2014 Nov 22

SUPERNOVA 2014dv IN NGC 2501 (LOSS)
2014dv  Nov 17.490  07 58 30.10  -14 21 15.0  16.0   0.9"E    0.5"N
The new object was first detected on 2014 Nov. 4.49 UT at 16.0 mag, and it
was detected again in the following two weeks with a similar magnitude but
with large uncertainty because the object's position is only about 1" away
from the host-galaxy nucleus.
G. Hosseinzadeh: spectrum Nov 18 with the FLOYDS robotic spectrograph shows
it to be a type-Ia supernova. Good fit to the type-Ia supernova 1999aa at 51
days after maximum light.
CBET 4026 issued 2014 Nov 26

URSID METEORS 2014
P. Brown, Western University, reports that a significant outburst of Ursid
meteors was detected by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR) between Dec.
22d23h15m and 23d00h45m UT (activity full-width at half-maximum).  The
apparent activity maximum occurred at Dec. 23d00h UT (solar longitude 270.85
+/- 0.03 deg, equinox 2000.0).  A total of 85 Ursid orbits were measured +in
this 1.5-hour period from a mean geocentric radiant of R.A. = 221 deg, Decl.
= 75 deg (equinox 2000.0) with geocentric velocity 32 km/s.  The strength of
this outburst was the highest among all Ursid outbursts detected by CMOR
from 2002 to 2014, having an estimated peak ZHR in excess of 50.  The shower
was not rich in overdense echoes.  The timing of this peak is a reasonable
match to the prediction by J. Vaubaillon of Dec. 23d00h40m UT for encounter
with material released by comet 8P/Tuttle in 1392 AD.
P. Jenniskens, SETI Institute, confirms detecting elevated Ursid meteor
shower rates following the earth's crossing of the 1405 AD ejecta of comet
8P/Tuttle. During routine low-light-level video triangulations with NASA's
Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) project in California, 20
Ursid orbits were measured on Dec. 23 between 1h32m (end of civil twilight)
and 4h00m UT, radiating from a compact geocentric radiant at R.A. = 220.6
+/- 1.5 deg, Decl. = +76.0 +/- 0.7 deg, with velocity V_g = 32.9 +/- 0.2
km/s.  The remainder of the night (until 14h30m UT) saw only fifteen other
Ursids.  This was the tail of the meteor outburst reported by Brown (see
above). (CBET 4041, 2014 Dec 31)  
Guy M Hurst