Circular No. 6654
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)
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Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)


SUPERNOVA 1997cm IN ANONYMOUS GALAXY
     The Mount Stromlo Abell Cluster Supernova Search Team (cf.
IAUC 6639) reports the discovery of an apparent supernova (R = 20.6)
on V and R CCD images taken on May 6 by S. Sabine at the Mount
Stromlo 1.27-m telescope (+ Macho Camera).  SN 1997cm is located
near Abell 3528 at R.A. = 12h53m37s.03, Decl. = -28o48'48".5
(equinox 2000.0).  A nearby star has position end figures 36s.51,
54".8.  SN 1997cm was also present on similar frames taken on May 2
and Apr. 29, but it is not visible on images taken on Feb. 19
(limiting mag R = 22).  Finding charts are available at
http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~reiss/Abell_SNSearch/.


GRB 970508
     J. Heise, and J. in 't Zand, Space Research Organization of
the Netherlands, Utrecht; E. Costa, M. Feroci, L. Piro, P. Soffitta,
L. Amati, and M. N. Cinti, Istituto Astrofisica Spaziale, CNR,
Frascati; F. Frontera and G. Zavattini, Universita di Ferrara; L.
Nicastro and E. Palazzi, Istituto Tecnologie e Studio Radiazioni
Extraterrestri, CNR, Bologna; A. Tesseri, G. Gandolfi, M. Smith, H.
Muller, D. Ricci, and A. Coletta, BeppoSAX, Rome; and M. Tavani,
Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory and Istituto di Fisica Cosmica e
Tecnologie Relative, CNR, Milan, report:  "On the basis of the
satellite attitude reconstruction of the BeppoSAX observation
during GRB 970508, the position of the x-ray counterpart of the
burst in the Wide Field Camera WFC2 is determined to be R.A. =
6h53m28s, Decl. = +79o17'.4 (equinox 2000.0), with a 3' error
radius (99-percent confidence level) that is offset 2'.9 from the
preliminary position reported on IAUC 6649.  There are no
catalogued sources within the error region.  No other x-ray sources
in the field-of-view of both WFCs were detected for independent
verification of the satellite attitude."
     H. E. Bond, Space Telescope Science Institute, writes: "I have
found a starlike variable source within the error box of GRB 970508,
based on CCD observations with the Kitt Peak 0.9-m reflector.
Between May 9.19 and 10.18 UT, the source brightened by about 1.0
mag in the V band, and on May 10.18 was at V about 20.5, V-I = +0.9.
This starlike source is located at R.A. = 6h53m49s.2, Decl. =
+79o16'19" (equinox 2000.0), within both of the error boxes given
above and on IAUC 6649.  The variable is about 3" east and 13"
south of a slightly brighter star.  Although the brightening
(rather than fading) may make the identification with the GRB
dubious, follow-up observations are desirable."

                      (C) Copyright 1997 CBAT
1997 May 10                    (6654)            Daniel W. E. Green