Circular No. 5401
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
 
 
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 magni-
tude 18) located 5".4 east and 17" south of the center of an anony-
mous 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 spec-
trograph) confirms the object as a supernova.
 
1991 VG
     Using additional astrometric observations made by J. Scotti
with the Spacewatch telescope at Kitt Peak on Nov. 26, 27, and 29,
and by R. M. West, O. Hainaut, and A. Smette with the 1.5-m Danish
telescope at the European Southern Observatory on Dec. 2, D. K.
Yeomans, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, provides the following improved
orbital elements:
 
                    Epoch = 1991 Dec. 10.0 ET
     T = 1992 Jan.  5.8852 ET         Peri. =  26.5230
     e = 0.074987                     Node  =  78.9213  1950.0
     q = 0.972573 AU                  Incl. =   1.5906
       a =  1.051416 AU    n = 0.9142022    P =   1.078 years
 
Perturbations by the earth and by the moon were allowed for separ-
ately, and the object's closest approaches to these bodies were
0.0031 and 0.0025 AU on Dec. 5.351 and 6.859 ET, respectively.  Sim-
ilar computations have also been made by J. Chandler, Harvard-Smith-
sonian Center for Astrophysics, who notes that 1991 VG appears pre-
viously to have approached the earth-moon system to a distance of
0.07 AU in early 1975.  Further observational attempts by West et
al., and also by J. Wampler, B. Peterson, and M. Tarenghi with the
New Technology Telescope, on Dec. 6.3 UT failed, either because the
predicted position was in error by more than about 1', or because
the object (at phase angle 120 deg) was fainter than anticipated.
An attempt by S. Ostro, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to detect the ob-
ject by radar at Goldstone on Dec. 12 also failed.
 
V1251 CYGNI
Corrigendum. On IAUC 5380, line 1, for  Oct. 12.84  read  Oct. 29.84
 
 
1991 December 13                                  Daniel W. E. Green