Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams

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IAUC 8666: (617); 2006T; 2006E

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IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 8666
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


(617) PATROCLUS
     F. Marchis, J. Berthier, D. Hestroffer, P. Descamps, and the
Keck Science team report on a campaign of observations of the (617)
Patroclus system performed using the Keck 10-m-telescope Laser
Guide Star Adaptive Optics system in 2004-2005.  The observations
indicate that the two components, separated by 680 +/- 20 km,
revolve around their center of mass in 4.283 +/- 0.004 days in a
roughly circular orbit with a pole at ecliptic coordinates lambda =
236 +/- 5 deg, beta = -61 +/- 1 deg (equinox J2000.0).  The solution,
obtained over four years of observations, including also Gemini
Science Archive data, is purely Keplerian.  Considering thermal
measurements taken in Nov. 2000 by Fernandez et al. (2003, A.J.
126, 1563), and assuming the same composition for the spherical
components (R_1 = 61 km and R_2 = 56 km), the bulk density derived
is quite low (0.8 +/- 0.2 g/cm**3; Marchis et al. 2006, Nature 439,
565-567).  The IAU Committee on Small-Body Nomenclature has
approved the permanent designation and name (617) Patroclus I =
Menoetius (father of Patroclus) for the system's smaller component,
which was designated S/2001 (617) 1 when discovered in Sept. 2001
by W. J. Merline et al. (IAUC 7741).


SUPERNOVA 2006T IN NGC 3054
     L. A. G. Monard, Pretoria, South Africa, reports his discovery
of an apparent supernova (mag about 17.2 +/- 0.4) on unfiltered CCD
images taken with a 0.30-m reflector on Jan. 30.988 UT, with
confirming images on Jan. 31.847 showing the new object at mag
about 17.4 +/- 0.2.  SN 2006T is located at R.A. = 9h54m30s.21,
Decl. = -25o42'29".3 (equinox 2000.0; USNO-A2.0 reference stars),
which is 22" east and 21" south of the nucleus of NGC 3054.
Nothing is visible at this location on a Digitized Sky Survey image
(limiting red mag 20.5) or on an image taken on 2006 Jan. 16.955 by
Monard (limiting red mag 18.0).  Note that SN 2004de also occurred
in this galaxy.


SUPERNOVA 2006E IN NGC 5338
     H. Yamaoka, Kyushu University, writes that K. Itagaki
(Yamagata, Japan, 0.30-m reflector) found a prediscovery image of
SN 2006E (cf. IAUC 8658, 8660) at red mag about 13.6 on an
unfiltered CCD exposure of NGC 5338 taken on Jan. 2.835 UT.

                      (C) Copyright 2006 CBAT
2006 February 2                (8666)            Daniel W. E. Green

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