THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 134 1988 Mar 20 10.15UT. 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1988 EG Jeff Alu, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reports his discovery of a fast-moving asteroid with the 0.46-m Schmidt at Palomar in the course of the International Near-Earth Asteroid Survey: 1988 UT RA (1950) DEC Mag Observer Mar.12.30677 11h11m54.76s -01 17'51.9" 16.0 Alu 18.32094 11 02 06.65 +03 15 58.5 McCrosky The following orbital elements by Bardwell show that it is an Apollo object with the closest approach to the Earth 0.042AU on Feb 26: T =1988 Jan 2.85ET Peri=241.51) e=0.5232 Node=182.09) 1950 a=1.3067 AU Incl= 3.71) n=0.65981 q = 0.6231 AU P=1.49 years IAUC 4565 Ephemeris by Hurst: 1988 ET RA(1950) DEC(1950) Earth Sun Elong Vmag Mar 18 11h02.63m +03 05.34' 0.184 1.176 167.6 16.1 20 11 00.61 +04 05.90 0.202 1.193 164.9 16.5 22 10 59.06 +04 55.69 0.221 1.210 162.3 16.8 24 10 57.90 +05 36.83 0.241 1.227 159.9 17.1 26 10 57.07 +06 10.93 0.261 1.243 157.5 17.4 28 10 56.52 +06 39.20 0.281 1.260 155.2 17.7 30 10 56.22 +07 02.57 0.301 1.276 153.0 17.9 SUPERNOVA 1988I IN ANON GALAXY C.Pollas, CERGA Observatory, Caussols, reports the discovery of a supernova in an anonymous galaxy at: RA 10h18m17s DEC +35 54.7'(1950). IIIa-J Schmidt plates exposed Mar 7.85 and 11.91UT show the object at mag approx 19 and located 5"E amd 1"N of the galaxy's centre. IAUC 4563 T PYX Further to the note on E125, M.Verdenet has submitted a detailed drawing of the field of T Pyx which he made on Feb 21 when a magnitude estimate of 12.8 was obtained. A comparison of this drawing with the Palomar Sky Survey by the Editor shows that the object is correctly identified. By comparison with a chart supplied by Rob McNaught in Australia and drawn by Frank Bateson 770530 it appears the Verdenet drawing shows stars to at least 14.4 as 'W' on the NZ chart was drawn. Further observations would be welcomed. FLARE OBJECT IN FIELD OF IR GEM?= Q1988/16 S.Korth, Monheim, West Germany has sent an express letter reporting a flare object in the field of IR Gem which is located at: RA 06h44.5m DEC +28 08'(1950). On Mar 8, he was observing the dwarf nova with the C14 of the Benzenberg-Sternwarte Dusseldorf at x650. Suddenly at 20h24m30s +/-15s a mag 12.9 flash appeared 0.5'E and 1.0'N of the variable. It was visible for about 1 sec but not observed again in the following 10 mins. No motion was detected during the flash so an aeroplane appears to be excluded but a high altitude satellite might have produced a short blink. If anyone has similar observations of other fields or can offer an expxlanation please e-mail your comments. Guy M Hurst