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IAUC 7176: N Vel 1999; C/1999 K4

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                                                  Circular No. 7176
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
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NOVA VELORUM 1999
     Independent visual discoveries of a bright nova have been made
by Peter Williams, Heathcote, New South Wales (via S. Lee and A.
Pearce), at m_v = 3.1 on May 22.396 UT and by Alan C. Gilmore,
Mount John University Observatory, on May 22.451.  Lee provides the
following position from Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) encoders:
R.A. = 10h44m49s.5, Decl. = -52o25'35" (equinox 2000.0).  Lee
reports that a low-dispersion spectrogram taken by Lewis, Colless,
Cannon, Bridges, and himself with the AAT (+ fiber spectrograph on
2dF; 1-s exposure, mirror stopped down to 2.5 m) shows H-alpha and
H-beta in narrow emission with a strong P-Cyg profile.  An echelle
spectrogram (10-min exposure centered on May 22.500) of the
apparent nova by K. R. Pollard and J. A. McSaveney with the Mt.
John 1-m telescope shows H-alpha with blueshifted absorption and
slightly redshifted emission.  Gilmore provides the following
photometry obtained with the Mount John 0.6-m reflector (comparison
star HR 4167 = p Vel, with assumed V = 3.84, U-B = +0.07, B-V =
+0.30, V-R = +0.20, V-I = +0.30):  May 22.488, V = 2.88, U-B =
-0.27, B-V = +0.24, V-R = +0.16, V-I = +0.28; 22.574, 2.85, -0.27,
+0.28, +0.19, +0.27; 22.599, 2.84, -0.25, +0.29, +0.23, +0.33;
22.635, 2.80, -0.26, +0.31, +0.23, +0.33.  P. M. Kilmartin reports
that a 1-s CCD (over)exposure on May 22.50 with the 0.6-m Boller &
Chivens Cassegrain reflector at Mount John yields the following
position end figures:  48s.1, 32" (four stars, mean residual 2".68
in R.A., 0".43 in Decl.).  Pearce provides the following visual
magnitude estimates:  May 22.42-22.52, 3.0; 22.54-22.58, 2.9.
Pearce notes that there appears to be nothing obvious on the
Digital Sky Survey image at the nova's position.  P. Caldwell,
Geelong, Victoria, reports m_v about 2.8 (close to or slightly
fainter than the brightness of mu Vel) during May 22.50-22.53.


COMET C/1999 K4 (LINEAR)
     An apparently asteroidal object found by LINEAR (discovery
observation below; further observations and orbit on MPEC 1999-K24),
and posted on The NEO Confirmation Page, has been reported as
cometary by M. Hicks (Table Mountain; faint coma of diameter about
5" on May 21) and by C. W. Hergenrother and A. E. Gleason (Catalina
1.5-m reflector; highly condensed coma with a faint 10"-15" tail in
p.a. 170 deg on May 22).

     1999 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m2
     May  17.32636   16 05 48.69   + 5 45 19.7   18.7

                      (C) Copyright 1999 CBAT
1999 May 22                    (7176)            Daniel W. E. Green

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