THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 100 1987 Dec 15 21.49UT. Telecom Gold 72:MAG60138 Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16, Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP, England. Telephone:(0256)471074.Int:+44256471074 Telex:265871(MONREF G) Quote"72:MAG60138 ATT G.HURST"in FIRST line. ------------------------------------------------------------------- PERIODIC COMET HALLEY (1982i) K.J.Meech, Univ. of Hawaii, reports that strongly condensed images were observed with the 2.3-m refl. on Nov 26. Her preliminary analysis gave a Mould V mag of 19.6 within a diaphragm of radius 5". IAUC 4512 SUPERNOVA 1987N IN NGC7606 Rob McNaught e-mails that he has obtained a precise position for the supernova from a blue plate by Jones, Milford and Page (University of Queensland) taken with the Uppsala Southern Schmidt: RA 23h16m27.79s DEC -08 45'02.9" (1950) yielding offsets: 29.1"N; 16.6"W. The uncertainty is 0.7" in RA and 0.4" in DEC. The SN appeared brighter on the B plate than visually suggesting the supernova is rather blue. He provides the following comparison star data: (V mags, RA and DEC offsets in arc seconds): V RA DEC 12.1 003E 157S 12.8 057W 178N 13.6 320E 034N 14.8 018E 198N A note on IAUC 4511 mentions that SN 1965M also appeared in this galaxy. HUDEC'S OBJECT IN HERCULES Mike Collins, Sandy, Beds. draws out attention to an optical candidate proposed by Rene Hudec for a gamma ray burster which lies in the field of T and TV Her. (See Nature, volume 330, 1987 Nov 26) Collins calculates the position to be: RA 18h 09.3m DEC +31 23'(1950). The object was found on plates taken on: 1946 March 28; 1946 August 31; 1954 April 27. The field should continue to be monitored and patrollers may care to check old photos of UK Nova/Supernova Patrol area 41. A chart is available on e-mail request. Guy M Hurst