Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 3454: SATURN; EDITORIAL NOTICE
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Circular No. 3454
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
TWX 710-320-6842 ASTROGRAM CAM Telephone 617-864-5758
SATURN
A. Dollfus, Observatoire de Paris, reports that the observation
on 1979 Nov. 1 of an outer ring of Saturn (cf. IAUC 3426) has
been confirmed on several plates taken on 1980 Jan. 29 with the 1-m
reflector at Meudon. The lineament extends westward from ring A up
to 7 Saturn radii.
Potential observers of satellite phenomena are advised that
ephemerides from February to April are available from: Bureau des
Longitudes, Groupe Satellites, 77 Avenue Denfert-Rochereau, F-75014
Paris, France. Coefficients for the development of the coordinates
in Chebyshev polynomials are given. The coordinates are differential
with respect to Saturn, in the mean equatorial system, and
have a geocentric precision of ~ 0".02.
D. Pascu, U.S. Naval Observatory, reports the detection of a
possible new satellite, designated 1980 S 1. Its weighted mean
position, derived from three exposures with the 0.66-m refractor
over a 10-min interval centered on Feb. 19.2402 UT, was in the ring
plane, 24".63 west of the center of Saturn. The magnitude,
comparable to that of Saturn VII (Hyperion), was thus about 14.
Supplementing the note on IAUC 3417, J. Van Allen et al. (1980,
Science 207, 415) have reported further new satellites as follows:
1979 S3 (suspected, but interpretation of the signature is ambiguous),
radial distance from the center of Saturn 2.82 Rs; 1979 S 4
(which may be a longitudinally extended signature of 1979 S 2),
distance 2.522 Rs; 1979 S 5 (firmly established), distance 2.343 Rs;
and 1979 S 6 (which may be a longitudinally extended signature of
1979 S 5), distance 2.350 R5. There was no trace of 1966 S 1, the
object that has previously been called Saturn X (Janus).
EDITORIAL NOTICE
The object designated above 1979 S 3 is not obviously identical
with the object reported by J. D. Mulholland that was given
this same designation on IAUC 3430. The Mulholland object is
hereby redesignated 1979 S 7. In order to avoid further confusion, it
would be useful if such IAU provisional designations for satellites
were given only by the Central Telegram Bureau. The designation
1979 J 1 was given to the new Jovian satellite (a = 1.8 Jupiter
radii) reported by Jewitt et al. (1979, Science 206, 951).
1980 February 25 (3454) Brian G. Marsden
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