Circular No. 8463
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)


COMET C/2005 A1 (LINEAR)
     R. Kracke reports the LINEAR discovery of a comet (discovery
observation below).  After posting on the `NEO Confirmation Page',
other observers have confirmed the cometary nature on CCD images,
including C. Jacques and E. Pimentel (Belo Horizonte, Brazil;
0.30-m reflector, Jan. 14.3 UT; coma diameter about 15" and a
noticeable 75"-long tail in p.a. 313 deg) and J. Young (Table
Mountain 0.6-m reflector, Jan. 14.5, moderate cirrus clouds;
slightly elongated 12" coma of mag 15.0 and a 1'-long broad tail in
p.a. 295 deg).

     2005 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.       Mag.
     Jan. 13.48135   13 51 08.43   -17 22 57.6   15.4

The available astrometry, the following preliminary parabolic
orbital elements, and an ephemeris appear on MPEC 2005-A56.

     T = 2005 Apr. 10.933 TT          Peri. = 261.840
                                      Node  = 356.082   2000.0
     q = 1.07894 AU                   Incl. =  69.490


SUPERNOVA 2005C
     T. Boles, Coddenham, England, reports the discovery of an
apparent supernova (mag 18.4) on unfiltered CCD images taken on
Jan. 11.051 and 13.036 UT.  The new object is located at R.A. =
11h15m29s.42, Decl. = +60o45'05".5 (equinox 2000.0), which is
approximately 3".0 west and 10".7 north of the center of its
apparent host galaxy.  SN 2005C is not present on Boles' images
from 2004 Apr. 21 and Nov. 20 (limiting mag 19.5) or on Digitized
Sky Survey plates from 1993 (limiting red mag 21.0) or 1994
(limiting blue mag 21.5).


SUPERNOVA 2004gy
     Further to IAUC 8461, M. Modjaz, R. Kirshner, and P. Challis
report that a spectrogram of SN 2004gy (cf. IAUC 8460), obtained at
Mt. Hopkins by W. Brown on Jan. 10.49 UT, reveals it to be a
type-II supernova, probably within a few weeks past explosion.  The
spectrum consists of a blue continuum and Balmer-line P-Cyg
features, with an emission-dominated H_alpha component.  The host-
galaxy redshift, measured from narrow H_alpha emission lines in the
nucleus, is 0.0269; adopting this redshift, the expansion velocity
derived from the minimum of the H_beta line is about 10000 km/s.

                      (C) Copyright 2005 CBAT
2005 January 14                (8463)            Daniel W. E. Green