Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 7589: N Sgr 2001; 2001 DO_47
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Circular No. 7589
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
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NOVA SAGITTARII 2001
William Liller, Vina del Mar, Chile, reports his discovery of
a nova (mag 7.7) on Tech Pan photographs taken on Feb. 24.369 and
24.371 UT with an 85-mm camera lens (+ orange filter). His
position for the variable star was measured from CCD frames
obtained on Feb. 25.388 with a 0.2-m f/1.5 Schmidt camera: R.A. =
17h54m40s.46, Decl. = -26o14'15".2 (equinox 2000.0). Nothing
brighter than mag 11.0 appears at this location on photographs
taken by Liller on Feb. 14. Liller adds that a low-dispersion CCD
objective-prism spectrogram shows a broad H-alpha emission line
about 3.3 times brighter than the surrounding continuum; broad
emission features are also seen centered on 487.9 and 504.3 nm.
Position end figures measured by J. Broughton, Reedy Creek,
Queensland, from an unfiltered CCD image taken with a 0.25-m f/6.6
reflector on Feb. 25.710: 40s.43, 15".8 (mag 7.9).
K. Ayani and T. Kawabata, Bisei Astronomical Observatory,
confirm Liller's variable to be a nova: ''We obtained a low-
resolution spectrum (instrumental FWHM = 0.6 nm; range 470-800 nm)
of N Sgr 2001 on Feb. 25.88 UT with the Bisei 1.01-m telescope.
Strong and broad H-alpha and H-beta emission lines and a broad
emission feature at 784 nm (O I 777.3-nm plus perhaps Mg II 789.0-
nm) are prominent. Fitting a gaussian, we estimate equivalent
width 45 nm and FWHM = 4700 km/s for the H-alpha line."
2001 DO_47
The designation 2001 DO_47 was given on Feb. 21 (cf. MPEC
2001-D28) to a fast-moving, apparently asteroidal object discovered
by Spacewatch on Feb. 19 and that was clearly going to pass 0.0039
AU from the earth on Feb. 23. Nevertheless, the resemblance of the
heliocentric orbital elements (a = 1.010 AU, e = 0.0175, i = 0.047
deg at epoch 2001 Apr. 1; H = 27.3) to those of the earth suggested
that the object might be a manmade object, a suspicion that was
heightened when J. D. Giorgini and L. A. M. Benner, Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, noted that the orbit seemed to have become elliptical
with respect to the earth following a very close approach to the
moon on 2000 Aug. 19. Furthermore, observations made during Feb.
23-25 showed a marked discontinuity from those of Feb. 19-22. J.
McDowell, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has now
identified the object as the WIND space probe. He confirms that an
impulse was to be applied to the probe's motion on Feb. 23,
following previous impulses shortly after earlier perigee passages
in Nov. and in Aug. 2000, when the actual minimum distance from
the center of the moon had been 9300 km. Intervening apogee
distances have been around 0.011 AU.
(C) Copyright 2001 CBAT
2001 February 25 (7589) Daniel W. E. Green
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