Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 5658: N IN M31; GRS 1915+105 AND B1900+14
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Circular No. 5658
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 M31
James Bryan, Georgetown, TX, reports his discovery of a nova
in the nuclear bulge of M31, found on Technical Pan photographs
taken by W. Wren using the McDonald Observatory 0.76-m telescope.
The nova is located at R.A. = 0h40m16s.5 +/- 0s.5, Decl. =
+40 58'11" +/- 5" (equinox 1950.0). A field star (star 51 of
Ciardullo et al. 1987, Ap.J. 318, 520; B = 17.1, V = 16.4) is
located 11" west-northwest of the nova. The following V magnitudes
are available (those by Bryan were from Tech Pan photographs with a
0.40-m telescope): Oct. 26.09 UT, [18.5 (Bryan); Nov. 9.08, 17.2
(Wren); 11.17, 17.2 (Wren); 15.11, 17.2 (Bryan).
A. V. Filippenko, T. Matheson, and L. C. Ho, University of
California at Berkeley, report that CCD spectrograms (range 320-
1000 nm) obtained on Nov. 18 UT with the Shane 3-m reflector at
Lick Observatory reveal that Bryan's new object is indeed a nova.
Intense hydrogen Balmer emission lines are present on a weak
continuum, as are fainter lines of Fe II. The spectrum of faint star
located nearby (within 1"-2") is superposed on the nova spectrum;
thus, part of the weak continuum in the spectrum is probably due to
the adjacent star.
GRS 1915+105 AND B1900+14
J. Lochner and L. Whitlock, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA,
and Universities Space Research Association, communicate: "We have
examined the Vela 5B data in the region of the x-ray transient GRS
1915+105 (IAUC 5590, 5619). The Vela 5B data base covers the energy
range 3-12 kev from 1969 May to 1979 June. To a sensitivity of
0.1 Crab, we have found no x-ray activity lasting longer than 2.3
days in the region of GRS 1915+105. A recently reported soft
gamma-ray repeater has been discovered in this region (IAUC 5567, and
C. Kouveliotou, Compton Gamma Ray Conf., St. Louis, 1992 Oct.),
which may be associated with either the transient or the soft
gamma-ray repeater B1900+14. To further check the possible association
between x-ray transients and soft gamma-ray events, we carefully
examined the Vela 5B data covering the 1979 March timeframe,
in which Mazets et al. (1979, Sov. Astron. Lett. 5, 343) reported
events from B1900+14. Good sky coverage allows us to rule out the
presence of any x-ray transient event from either GRS 1915+105 or
B1900+14 in early 1979."
1992 November 20 (5658) Daniel W. E. Green
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