Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 3912: 1984b; SN IN NGC 4419; V0332+53; URANUS
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Circular No. 3912
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
COMET 1984b
M. Clark reports that a plate taken at Mount John Observatory
on Jan. 27 failed to confirm the existence of this object.
SUPERNOVA IN NGC 4419
R. W. Argyle, Royal Greenwich Observatory, telexes a precise
position for this object, derived from an exposure on Jan. 29.988
UT (mpg = 13.0): R.A. = 12h24m24s01, Decl. = +15deg19'53"7 (equinox
1950.0).
V0332+53
N. E. White, J. Davelaar, A. N. Parmar and L. Stella, European
Space Agency; and M. van der Klis, Astronomical Institute,
University of Amsterdam, report that the EXOSAT observations of the
second recent outburst of V0332+53 gave a pulse period of 4.37532
+/- 0.0004 s on 1983 Dec. 24. The period therefore did not continue
to decrease at the high rate reported during the first outburst
(IAUC 3902). However, a similarly high rate of decrease was again
present during the second outburst, suggesting that the period
variations are due to orbital motion. The flux again decayed over
the following week. A third series of observations during 1984
Jan. 19-24 again found the source to be in outburst at a level of
0.04 Crab with the pulse period increasing. Preliminary solutions
yield an orbital period P = 34.2 +/- 1.5 days, periastron passage T
= 1984 Jan. 20 +/- 4, a sin i = 55(+150)(-10) light seconds, e = 0.35
(+0.25)(-0.10). The outbursts are approximately centered on T.
URANUS
S. J. O'Meara reports rotation periods for Uranus, derived
from seven visual observations of cloud features with the Harvard
College Observatory's 0.23-m refractor in 1981; he has not observed
such cloud features on other occasions. A polar cloud confirmed
the position of Uranus' north pole < 0"7 southwest of the
center of the disk. A second cloud suggested a rotation period of
16.0 hr between July 23 and Aug. 28, 16.2 hr from then until Sept.
8 and 16.4 hr during Sept. 8-15. A short-lived cloud detected on
Aug. 27 and 28 indicated a 16.0-hr period. These figures are in
good agreement with the weighted mean period of 16.31 +/- 0.27 hr
deduced by Goody (1982, in "Uranus and the Outer Planets" , p. 143)
from spectroscopic observations and dynamical considerations.
1984 February 1 (3912) Brian G. Marsden
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