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IAUC 8075: 2003au; S/2003 (1509) 1; M87

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                                                  Circular No. 8075
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)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


SUPERNOVA 2003au IN NGC 6095
     Further to IAUC 8070, M. Schwartz and W. Li report the LOTOSS
discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 19.2) on an
unfiltered images taken on Feb. 17.5 and 18.5 UT.  SN 2003au is
located at R.A. = 16h11m11s.56, Decl. = +61o15'58".2 (equinox
2000.0), which is 4".8 east and 6".9 south of the nucleus of NGC
6095.  A KAIT image taken on 2002 June 5.3 showed nothing at this
position (limiting mag about 20.0).


S/2003 (1509) 1
     W. J. Merline, Southwest Research Institute (SRI); L. M. Close,
University of Arizona; P. M. Tamblyn, Binary Astronomy and SRI; F.
Menard, Observatoire de Grenoble; C. R. Chapman, SRI; C. Dumas, Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); G. Duvert, Observatoire de Grenoble;
W. M. Owen, JPL; D. C. Slater, SRI; and M. F. Sterzik, European
Southern Observatory (ESO), report the discovery on Feb. 13.3 UT of
a satellite of (1509) Esclangona (V = 15.0) from K_s-band direct
imaging with the ESO 8-m Very Large Telescope UT4/YEPUN (+ NAOS/
CONICA adaptive optics system) on Cerro Paranal.  The satellite was
observed on 5 epochs spanning 3 nights.  On Feb. 13.3214, the
companion was at separation 0".20 (projected separation 140 km) in
p.a. 292 deg.  The K_s brightness difference is about 2.4 mag,
giving an estimated diameter of the satellite of about 4 km.


M87
     E. Perlman, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and J.
Biretta and W. Sparks, Space Telescope Science Institute, report
strong flaring in a knot in the M87 jet:  "Knot HST-1 is located
0".8 from the nucleus of M87 along p.a. -69.5 deg.  Flaring
activity has been seen in our Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
monitoring, which shows a steady, monotonic increase of the optical
flux from 2001 August through 2002 Dec. 22, when the 220-nm flux
peaked at 98 microJy, comparable to the nucleus in that band.
These fluxes translate to U = 16.0 if a power-law spectrum
(nu**-0.6) is assumed.  Our most recent HST observation (2003 Feb.
2) showed a flux decrease of about 20 percent from the optical
peak.  HST-1 is also flaring in x-rays, with our Chandra
observations detecting a factor-of-2 increase in x-ray flux during
mid-2002 and a decrease in later observations (Harris et al. 2003,
Ap.J., in press; http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/?0302270).
Optical monitoring of M87 at sites with subarcsecond seeing
(especially U-band monitoring to minimize background due to the
host galaxy) is encouraged."

                      (C) Copyright 2003 CBAT
2003 February 18               (8075)            Daniel W. E. Green

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