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Excerpt from Circular No. 6950
Central
Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
SUPERNOVA 1998co IN NGC 7131
Wayne Johnson, Anza Observatory, reports his discovery of
a supernova (mag 16) on CCD images obtained on June 21 and
22 with the Orange County Observers' 0.56-m telescope. SN
1998co is located 3" east and 5" north of nucleus of NGC
7131 (R.A. = 21h47m.7, Decl. = -13o11', equinox 2000.0).
The SN is in a faint elliptical galaxy
in the constellation of Capricornus, but it stands out nicely
in my CCD images. According to astronomers at Harvard, it
was at maximum light when I initially imaged it. I found it
on the evening of the OCA's Star Party on Saturday night (June
21/22) after almost everyone had gone to bed. Since it was
Fathers' Day the next day, I went home early in the morning
and celebrated the occasion with Arlene after a short sleep.
I then had to go back up to the observatory on Sunday night
to get a confirmation image. No movement of the object, which
was a good sign, at least it wasn't an asteroid, but I had
no reference image to compare it against. I sent an email
to the Central Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) on
Monday morning to ask for verification and called Dan Green
there by phone to be sure he received my message and to find
out whether he needed any additional information.
We had a string of 5 clear nights
since last Thursday and I was able to take advantage of most
of those. Shuttling back and forth from my home an hour away,
I had to work during the week, too. Monday night saw Arlene
and I up there again to verify another SN suspect in ngc 5993,
which didn't pan out. I was beginning to drag at both work
and hobby when I finally got the good news on Tuesday morning
(June 23)!
Tired, but happy,
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