THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 569 1991 Oct 08 20.16UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP, England. Telephone: (0256)471074 Int:+44256471074 Telex: 9312111261 Answerback: TA G JANET BOXES: GMH at UK.AC.CAM.ASTRONOMY.STARLINK or GUYH at UK.AC.SUSSEX.CLUSTER TELECOM GOLD: 10074:MIK2885 PRESTEL 256471074 ------------------------------------------------------------------- COMET McNAUGHT-HUGHES (1991y) Robert H. McNaught reports his discovery of a comet on an R plate taken by S. M. Hughes with the U.K. Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring. The discovery plate shows the comet as strongly condensed, with a diffuse 2' tail in p.a. 250 deg. The following measurements by McNaught include his Oct. 1 observation from an Uppsala Southern Schmidt telescope film: 1991 UT R.A. (1950) Decl. m1 Observer Sept.30.51236 23 09 59.79 -18 49 21.1 16.5 Hughes 30.55403 23 09 58.67 -18 49 20.4 " Oct. 1.45787 23 09 36.13 -18 48 49.9 McNaught IAUC 5354 SUPERNOVA 1991az IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY J. Mueller reports her discovery of a supernova (blue mag about 18) located 10".1 west and 3".4 south of the center of a galaxy at R.A. = 2h22m.4, Decl. = +24 02' (equinox 1950.0). The discovery plate was taken by J. D. Mendenhall and Mueller on Sept. 15 UT with the 1.2-m Oschin Telescope in the course of the second Palomar Sky Survey. A. V. Filippenko and T. Matheson, University of California at Berkeley, report that a CCD spectrogram (range 390-710 nm, resolution 1 nm), obtained on Oct. 2 UT with the Shane 3-m reflector at Lick Observatory, shows that SN 1991az is of type II. Broad H-alpha emission is prominent, but the corresponding absorption line is weak. IAUC 5356 SUPERNOVA 1991ba IN ESO 244-IG32 R. H. McNaught, Anglo-Australian Observatory, reports his discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 18.5) in the irregular galaxy ESO 244-IG32. The image appears on a V plate taken by S. M.Hughes with the U.K. Schmidt Telescope on Oct. 2.6 UT. Located at R.A. = 1h28m36s.57, Decl. = -42 42'58".6 (equinox 1950.0, uncertainty 0".6 in each coordinate), the supernova lies on the brighter, western edge of the galaxy. It is offset from the center of the galaxy (there being no obvious nucleus) by 1" west and 11" north. No star appears in this position on the ESO B or R surveys (the galaxy is heavily overexposed on the SERC J survey). A nearby star of mag about 15 is located at R.A. = 1h28m31s.22, Decl. = -42 43'39".0. IAUC 5358 COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY (1991z) E. Bowell, Lowell Observatory, communicates the following precise positions, measured by S. J. Bus, of a new comet discovered by C. S. Shoemaker, E. M. Shoemaker, and D. H. Levy with the 0.46-m Schmidt telescope at Palomar. The object is described as condensed. 1991 UT R.A. (1950) Decl. m1 Oct. 2.30243 0 23 38.25 - 7 29 11.2 16 3.30625 0 22 48.57 - 7 25 13.8 IAUC 5359 Guy M Hurst