Circular No. 6697
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/cfa/ps/cbat.html
Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)


SATURN
     C. Roddier, F. Roddier, J. E. Graves and M. J. Northcott, Institute
for Astronomy, University of Hawaii (UH), report: "Infrared images of
Saturn's rings were taken on 1995 Aug. 12 with the UH adaptive-optics
system mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope.  After careful
processing, evidence was found for a faint streak of light moving away
from Saturn at the level of the E ring.  The object is elongated in the
direction of Saturn with a sharp edge on Saturn's side and a fuzzy tail
on the other side.  Assuming motion on a keplerian orbit, the object's
orbital radius must be within a few km of that of Saturn II (Enceladus).
The object's sharp edge is ahead of Enceladus by an orbital longitude
of 75 deg.  Its orbit is inclined by about 2 deg with respect to the
ring plane.  The object could possibly be an arc structure confined by
gravitational interaction with both Saturn I (Mimas) and Enceladus."


GRB 970616
     J. C. Wheeler, University of Texas, reports that R-band images
centered on the location of GRB 970616 (IAUC 6683) were made by F. Ma,
Z. Shang, A. Howell, P. Rathbun and Y. Sheffer with the McDonald
Observatory's 0.76-m telescope (field of view 46'.2 x 46'.2) on June
19.4, 20.4, 21.4, 22.4, 23.4 and 25.4 UT.  No variables or galaxies
were seen down to R about 20 +/- 0.5 (limited by moonlight) in the error
box of the x-ray variable reported by Murakami et al. (IAUC 6687).
The first of these optical scans was made only 64 hours after the
GRB occurred.


NOVA SCORPII 1997
     Visual magnitude estimates: June 10.20 UT, 10.4 (W. G. Dillon,
Missouri City, TX); 12.10, 11.7 (A. Pereira, Cabo da Roca, Portugal);
14.99, 11.3 (D. Rodriguez, Madrid, Spain); 28.18, 12.4 (Dillon).


COMET C/1997 N1 (TABUR)
     Total visual magnitude estimates: July 6.92 UT, 10.0 (A. Pearce,
Subiaco, Western Australia, 0.2-m reflector); 7.80, 10.3 (D. A. J.
Seargent, The Entrance, N.S.W., 25 x 100 binoculars); 8.91, 10.4 (Pearce).

                      (C) Copyright 1997 CBAT
1997 July 10                   (6697)              Brian G. Marsden