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IAUC 5651: N LMC 1992; GEMINGA; N Cyg 1992

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                                                  Circular No. 5651
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Telephone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)
TWX 710-320-6842 ASTROGRAM CAM     EASYLINK 62794505
MARSDEN@CFA or GREEN@CFA (.SPAN, .BITNET or .HARVARD.EDU)


NOVA IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD 1992
     William Liller, Vina del Mar, Chile, reports his discovery
with Problicom of an apparent nova in the Large Magellanic Cloud at
R.A. = 5h19m.7, Decl. = -68 57' (equinox 1950.0), providing the
following magnitudes from Tech Pan film:  Nov. 4.34 UT, [15; 11.21,
10.7 (red filter).  The object is visible on four additional films.
P. Camilleri, Cobram, Victoria, Australia, observed the object at
mv = 10.2 on Nov. 12.472.


GEMINGA
     G. F. Bignami, P. A. Caraveo, and S. Mereghetti, Istituto di
Fisica Cosmica del CNR, Milan, communicate:  "Using the SUper Seeing
Imager (SUSI) at the European Southern Observatory's New Technology
Telescope, we have obtained a good seeing (0".7) V-filter
image of the Geminga field on Nov. 4.  Comparing this image to
those from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in 1984 January and
the ESO 3.6-m reflector in 1987 January (see Bignami et al. 1987,
Ap.J. 319, 358), we find evidence of proper motion for G", the
magnitude-25.5 object suggested as the optical counterpart of Geminga
also by Halpern and Tytler (1988, Ap.J. 330, 201).  The apparent
displacement is almost due northeast and amounts to about 1".5
between the 1984 January and 1992 November images, or about 0".2/yr.
Confirmation comes from the 1987 January data, showing an intermediate
position along the same direction.  With the caution required
by the faintness of the object and the difficult measurement, we
submit that this is independent evidence for G" being close, typically
100 pc for a transverse velocity of 100 km/s, and thus for it
definitely being the optical counterpart of Geminga.  We note in
passing that the reported motion of G" may also be a possible
explanation for the difficulties encountered with the long-term
gamma-ray timing of Geminga (see IAUC 5583, 5541)."


NOVA CYGNI 1992
     Visual magnitude estimates (cf. IAUC 5638): Oct. 19.13 UT, 9.8
(W. Dillon, Missouri City, TX); 28.92, 9.5 (P. Schmeer, Bischmisheim,
Germany); Nov. 5.84, 9.8 (A. Boattini, Florence, Italy);
7.87, 10.1 (S. Baroni and M. V. Zanotta, Monte Panna, Italy).


1992 November 12               (5651)            Daniel W. E. Green

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