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IAUC 7354: C/2000 B2; 1987A

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                                                  Circular No. 7354
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)
BMARSDEN@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or DGREEN@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET C/2000 B2 (LINEAR)
     An object with unusual motion and reported as asteroidal by
LINEAR (discovery observation below) has been found to be cometary
in appearance following posting on the NEO Confirmation Page.  CCD
observations by P. Kusnirak (Ondrejov, 0.65-m f/3.6 reflector) and
by M. Tichy and Z. Moravec (Klet, 0.57-m f/5.2 reflector) indicate
that the object appears slightly diffuse.  Complete astrometry and
parabolic orbital elements (T = 1999 Nov. 10.5 TT, q = 3.78 AU)
appear on MPEC 2000-C04.

     2000 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.        m1
     Jan. 29.23907    6 38 59.78   +36 32 39.9   18.8


SUPERNOVA 1987A IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD
     P. Bouchet, Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO); S.
Lawrence, A. Crotts, B. Sugerman, and R. Uglesich, Columbia
University; and S. Heathcote, CTIO, report brightening of the
'hotspot' (IAUC 6665, 6710, 6761, 7056) and the probable appearance
of new structure on the inner ring around SN 1987A:  "Near-infrared
images obtained on 1999 Dec. 25 using the CTIO 4-m telescope (+
Tip-Tilt system and OSIRIS) in a narrow band centered on He I
1083.0-nm show that the hotspot has brightened by a factor of 1.4
since 1998 Oct. 6 (cf. IAUC 7056; note that a different method for
defining aperture photometry is used now).  We also observe the
probable appearance of a new source, perhaps an extension to the
hotspot but consistent with a new point source at a radius of 0".6
and p.a. 104 deg with respect to the supernova, near the inner ring
edge on the side farther from the earth, and corresponding to a
strong, previously known, inward protrusion of the ring.  The
original hotspot now contains about 21 percent of the entire He I
1083.0-nm flux seen in the ring (including hotspots), and the new
source contains about 1 percent of the total ring flux.  Meanwhile,
the western half of the ring (with no apparent hotspots) has faded
by 4 percent.  This new source is the most significant sign of new
activity beyond the first hotspot that we have seen in the course
of our intensive monitoring program, and it may presage the
appearance of structure at other wavelengths due to the
ring/ejecta interaction."

                      (C) Copyright 2000 CBAT
2000 February 1                (7354)            Daniel W. E. Green

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