Circular No. 6852
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/iau/cbat.html
Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)


GRB 980326
     P. J. Groot and P. M. Vreeswijk, University of Amsterdam; E.
Pian and E. Palazzi, CNR Bologna; C. Tinney, Anglo-Australian
Observatory; M. Keane, National Optical Astronomy Observatory; and
J. F. Gonzalez, European Southern Observatory (ESO), report on
behalf of a larger collaboration:  "Comparison of optical R-band
observations of the error box of GRB 980326 (IAUC 6851) taken at
the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) on Mar. 27.42 UT, the Cerro
Tololo 4-m telescope on Mar. 28.04, and the ESO 3.5-m New
Technology Telescope on Mar. 28.01 and 28.17 shows a clearly
variable object located at R.A. = 8h36m34s.28, Decl. =
-18o51'23".9 (equinox 2000.0).  Differential photometry with
respect to three local stars shows decreases in brightness between
Mar. 27.42 and 28.01 of 1.2(1) mag; between Mar. 27.42 and 28.04 of
1.6(1) mag; and between Mar. 27.42 and 28.17 of 1.7(1) mag.  The
three comparison stars have position end figures and magnitudes
(determined with respect to Landolt SA 98 stars 626, 624, 634, 590)
as follows:  35s.41, 51'41".6, R = 18.4(1); 31s.00, 51'17".3,
21.7(1); 34s.03, 50'53".2, 20.3(1).  At the time of the AAT
observation (Mar. 27.42), the magnitude of the variable was R =
21.7, equal to that of the second comparison star."


SUPERNOVA 1995ad IN NGC 2139
     J. Broughton, Reedy Creek, Queensland, reports the following
prediscovery position and magnitude of SN 1995ad (cf. IAUC 6239,
6242) from a CCD frame taken with a 0.25-m f/6.3 reflector on 1995
Sept. 22.79 UT:  R.A. = 6h01m06s.11, Decl. = -23o40'29".1 (equinox
2000.0), R = 15.7.


SUPERNOVA 1998S IN NGC 3877
     Visual magnitude estimates:  Mar. 23.39 UT, 12.0 (A. Mizser,
Budapest, Hungary); 23.860, 12.3 (A. Diepvens, Balen, Belgium);
24.09, 11.8 (M. S. Tejera, Las Palmas, Canary Is., Spain); 24.8,
12.0 (L. Kiss, Szeged, Hungary); 24.98, 11.7 (J. Carvajal, Madrid,
Spain); 25.10, 11.7 (W. Dillon, Damon, TX); 25.32, 12.0 (R. Keen,
Mt. Thorodin, CO); 25.881, 12.1 (A. Pereira, Cabo da Roca,
Portugal); 26.774, 12.0 (M. Plsek, Lelekovice, Czech Republic);
26.79, 12.0 (A. Baransky, Kiev, Ukraine); 26.95, 11.9 (Carvajal).

                      (C) Copyright 1998 CBAT
1998 March 28                  (6852)            Daniel W. E. Green