Circular No. 5370
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Telephone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)
TWX 710-320-6842 ASTROGRAM CAM     EASYLINK 62794505
MARSDEN or GREEN@CFA.BITNET    MARSDEN or GREEN@CFAPS2.SPAN
 
 
RS OPHIUCHI
     Y. Andrillat and L. Houziaux, Observatoire de Haute Provence,
communicate:  "Spectra of the recurrent nova RS Oph have been ob-
tained during Aug. 17-19 in the ranges 759-800, 837-878, and 982-
1020 nm at 0.1-nm resolution.  The broad and violet-shifted emission
wings mentioned by Ijima (IAUC 5302) are no longer observed.  All
lines are narrow (0.3-0.5 nm FWMH).  Monochromatic magnitudes in the
continuum are 9.45 (787 nm), 10.47 (850 nm), 10.36 (880 nm), and
9.54 (1 micron), somewhat brighter than at minimum light.  The fol-
lowing fluxes (x 10E-12 erg cmE-2 sE-1) of Fe II emission lines were
observed:  771.1 nm, 0.42; 786.8 nm, 1.98; 999.7 nm, 0.36; these
fluxes have been corrected for E(B-V) = 0.8.  The brightest line is
O I at 844.6 nm (2.63 x 10E-12 erg cmE-2 sE-1).  The Paschen decre-
ment is very mild, since from P7 to P17 the flux varies from 1.8 to
0.47 x 10E-12 erg cmE-2 sE-1.  The Ca II triplet is quite conspicu-
ous, but no forbidden lines are detected."
 
 
GRS 1943-052
     N. Lund, A. J. Castro-Tirado, and S. Brandt, on behalf of the
Granat WATCH team (Danish Space Research Institute, Lyngby; and
Space Research Institute, Moscow), report:  "A short-duration x-ray
transient, GRS 1943-052 (R.A. = 19h43m, Decl. = -5.2, equinox 1950.0,
error radius 1 deg), was recorded by the WATCH all-sky x-ray monitor
on Oct. 16.48 UT.  The x-ray flux rose in 20 s, reaching a peak flux
of about 10 times that of the Crab Nebula in the 6- to 15-keV energy
band, and thereafter decayed below the detection limit in 50 s.
Follow-up observations are encouraged."
 
 
SUPERNOVA 1991bd IN UGC 2936
     J. Mueller reports her independent discovery of this object
(cf. IAUC 5367), which was at mag about 16.5 on a blue plate exposed
by J. D. Mendenhall and herself with the 1.2-m Oschin Telescope on
Oct. 15 UT during the course of the second Palomar Sky Survey.  A
spectrogram obtained by M. Mateo and I. Reid on Oct. 16 with the 5-m
Hale Telescope (+ double spectrograph) suggests that this is a type-
II supernova.
 
 
1991 October 18                                   Daniel W. E. Green