THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 588 1991 Dec 21 19.34UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England. Telephone/FAX(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 ------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPERNOVA 1991bh IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY Jean Mueller reports her discovery, on a 1.2-m Oschin Schmidt plate taken by J. D. Mendenhall and herself on Dec. 7 during the course of the second Palomar Sky Survey, of a supernova (blue magnitude 18) located 5".4 east and 17" south of the centre of an anonymous galaxy that has coordinates R.A. = 2h42m16s.2, Decl. = +14 57'13".4 (equinox 1950.0). A spectrogram obtained on Dec. 13 by R. Weymann and S. Morris at the 5-m Hale telescope (+ double spectrograph) confirms the object as a supernova. IAUC 5401 T LEONIS Patrick Schmeer, Germany e-mails further results on this star (cf E585): 1991 Dec 13.097UT, 11.8; 15.172, 11.4; 15.238, 10.9; 16.047, 10.3 16.085, 10.3. E-INDEX We welcome Luciano Bittesini of Italy to our group. He can be contacted via JANET using: CBS%SPAN-RELAY::"38441::BITTESINI" and also via STARLINK/SPAN using: 38441::BITTESINI PERIODIC COMET TSUCHINSHAN 2 (1991e1) J. Scotti, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, reports the recovery of this comet on images obtained with the 0.91-m Spacewatch telescope by D. Rabinowitz and himself: 1991 UT R.A. (1950) Decl. m2 Dec. 3.21335 3 08 52.09 +26 31 10.2 21.2 3.23212 3 08 51.10 +26 31 02.7 20.6 3.25032 3 08 49.97 +26 30 54.8 21.0 13.29695 3 01 11.38 +25 23 00.8 21.7 13.31132 3 01 10.86 +25 22 54.8 21.0 13.32596 3 01 10.14 +25 22 48.4 21.5 The Dec. 3.25 image is apparently influenced by that of a faint star. The comet appears stellar, to the limits of seeing, and the position is in close agreement with the prediction on MPC 14593 (ephemeris on MPC 18469). The m2 values are V magnitudes. IAUC 5403 SUPERNOVA 1991bi IN NGC 5127 Christian Pollas, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, reports his discovery, on Schmidt plates taken Dec. 13.2 and 14.2 UT, of a supernova (magnitude Bj = 18.5) located 13" west and 6" south of the centre of the elliptical galaxy NGC 5127 (R.A. = 13h21m.44, Decl. = +31 49'.6, equinox 1950.0). Nothing appears at the position of the supernova either on similar plates taken two years ago or on the Palomar Sky Survey images. A. V. Filippenko, T. Matheson, M. Cyrot, and A. Hammond, University of California at Berkeley, report that inspection of uncalibrated CCD spectra (range 390-990 nm, resolution 1 nm), obtained on Dec. 14 UT with the Shane 3-m reflector at Lick Observatory, shows that the object is a type-Ia supernova, probably a few weeks past maximum brightness. IAUC 5404 Guy M Hurst