THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 818 1994 Mar 08 19.30UT 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 TELECOM GOLD: 10074:MIK2885 INTERNET: GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK or GMH at AST-STAR.CAM.AC.UK ------------------------------------------------------------------- OJ 287 (Q1994/014) Various observers report a brightening of the BL Lac object OJ 287 as follows (visual unless otherwise stated): 1994 Mar 2.849UT, [14.9 (G.Poyner, Birmingham, UK) 2.853UT, [14.9 (T.Vanmunster, Belgium) 2.869UT, 14.7 (N.Hewitt, Northampton, UK CCD Observation) 2.907UT, [14.9 (G.Poyner) 3.810UT, 14.7 (L.Szentasko, Hungary) 3.833UT, 14.6 (G.Poyner) 3.847UT, 14.5 (T.Vanmunster) 3.850UT, 14.9 (N.James, Chelmsford, UK, K2415 photo) 3.87 UT, 14.6 (P.Van Cauteren, Belgium) 3.896UT, 14.8 (D.Strange, Worth Maltravers, UK, CCD Obs) 3.990UT, 14.6 (T.Vanmunster) 4.890UT, 14.7 (T.Vanmunster) David Strange has also submitted copies of images secured on 1993 Dec 22.998UT from which the Editor deduces a magnitude of 15.6 (CCD unfiltered, 0.50-m reflector). TT CRATERIS (Q1994/013) Richard Fleet, Reading, UK reports an outburst of TT Crt (UG-type): 1994 Mar 2.903UT, 13.6; 3.910, 13.4 This has been relayed to professional astronomers in the USA who ask for our continued monitoring of this eruptive variable. NOVA SAGITTARII 1994 P.M.Kilmartin, Mt John Observatory, New Zealand e-mails a precise position for this object: 1994 Mar 2.62 RA 18h50m36.73s DEC -21o23'29.1"(2000) This is understood to be a re-reduction of the data published on IAUC 5943. COMET McNAUGHT-RUSSELL (1993v) S. Nakano, Sumoto, Japan, reports that he and I. Hasegawa have examined the possibility that this comet may be identical with the comet of 574, for which Hasegawa (1979, Publ. Astron. Soc. Japan 31, 257) has given a rather similar orbit. The orbit of 1993v on IAUC 5926 indicates a revolution period of about 1440 years, and a recent refinement by Nakano gives 1430 +/- 30 years. He also finds that the two-month span of 1993-1994 observations can be satisfactorily linked with the positions deduced by Hasegawa for 574 Apr. 4, May 8 and 23, provided that one accepts residuals in 574 of up to 1.6 deg. IAUC 5943 INTERNET Whilst the addresses at the top of this circular should now work, it appears that some sites wishing to contact the Rutherford UNIX mailbox need to use the machine-specific address of: GMH at ASTRO1.BNSC.RL.AC.UK in place the first address quoted above which is for the Rutherford Cluster.