Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 4400: 1987A; 1982i
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Circular No. 4400
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 617-495-7244/7440/7444
SUPERNOVA 1987A IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD
F. C. Witteborn and J. D. Bregman, NASA Ames Research Center;
D. M. Rank, Lick Observatory; M. Cohen, University of California,
Berkeley; and D. K. Lynch and R. W. Russell, Aerospace Corporation,
report: "Spectra of SN 1987A were obtained from the Kuiper
Airborne Observatory at altitude 12.5 km in the wavelength range
5.2-12.6 microns on Apr. 21.3 and 27.4 UT. An emission feature at 7.46
microns was measured in both flights. Its strength was found to be
(9.6 +/- 0.5) x 10**-18 W cm-2. The wavelength corresponds to a blend
of the Pfund alpha and Humphreys beta lines of hydrogen. The width is about
8000 km/s. The Humphreys alpha line at 12.4 microns was measured during
one flight and appeared to have a strength of (9.7 +/- 3.0) x 10**-18
W cm-2. An unidentified feature at 11.8 microns was observed at the 2-sigma
level. The continuum follows a photospheric spectral curve from
5.2 to about 6.5 microns. An excess above this about 5500-K blackbody extends
throughout longer wavelengths, reaching 40 percent above the
extrapolated blackbody from 7.8 to 10.3 microns."
W. Cook, D. Palmer, T. Prince, S. Schindler and E. Stone,
California Institute of Technology, telex: "Hard x-ray and gamma-ray
observations of SN 1987A were made during the period May 19.97-
20.26 UT with the Caltech imaging gamma-ray spectrometer launched from
Alice Springs. The instrument consists of a coded-aperture mask
and a sodium-iodide scintillation camera having sensitivity over
the energy range 40 keV-9 MeV. Preliminary data analysis has
yielded no detection of continuum or line flux from the supernova.
The 3-sigma upper limits for the Co-56 line flux from the supernova are
estimated to be (in units of 10**-3 photon cm-2 s-1): 1.5 at 847
keV, 2.3 at 1238 keV and 1.4 at 2598 keV."
Further visual magnitude estimates: May 29.50 UT, 2.9 (R. H.
McNaught, Coonabarabran, N.S.W.); 30.52, 3.0 (McNaught); 31.50,
3.1 (McNaught); June 1.48, 3.2 (McNaught); 2.54, 3.2 (A.
Beresford, Adelaide, S. Australia).
PERIODIC COMET HALLEY (1982i)
Further total visual magnitude estimates: Apr. 30.91 UT, 13.8
(J.-C. Merlin, Le Creusot, France, 0.40-m reflector); May 1.55,
13.4 (G. W. Wolf, Christchurch, N.Z., 0.37-m reflector); May
27.18, 13.2 (R. Keen, Mt. Thorodin, CO, 0.32-m reflector); 29.21,
13.3 (C. S. Morris, Lockwood Valley, CA, 0.26-m reflector).
1987 June 2 (4400) Brian G. Marsden
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