Circular No. 6853
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 980329
     F. Frontera, Istituto Tecnologie e Studio Radiazioni
Extraterrestri, Bologna; E. Costa, L. Piro, and P. Soffitta,
Istituto Astrofisica Spaziale, CNR, Rome; J. in 't Zand, Space
Research Organization of the Netherlands (SRON), Utrecht; L. Di
Ciolo and A. Tesseri, BeppoSAX Science Operation Center (SOC),
Rome; and M. Smith, SOC and SRON report:  "The BeppoSAX Gamma Ray
Burst Monitor was triggered by a gamma-ray burst on Mar. 29.1559
UT, corresponding to BATSE trigger 6665.  A preliminary analysis
shows a duration of 15 s and a peak intensity of 6000 counts/s
(40-700 keV).  This is the brightest burst detected so far by the
BeppoSAX GRBM simultaneously with the Wide Field Cameras (WFC).
The peak intensity measured in the WFC is about 6 Crab (2-26 keV).
The source position is R.A. = 7h02m41s, Decl. = +38o50'.7 (equinox
2000.0; error radius 3').  A BeppoSAX  follow-up observation is in
progress."


AX J0051-73.3 AND AX J0058-72.0
     J. Yokogawa and K. Koyama, Kyoto University, report:  "ASCA
detected two new x-ray pulsars in the Small Magellanic Cloud,
designated AX J0051-73.3 and AX J0058-72.0.  AX J0051-73.3 was
detected on 1997 Nov. 13 at R.A. = 0h50m47s, Decl. = -73o15'51"
(equinox 2000.0; +/- 1' at 90-percent confidence), with a pulse
period of 323.2 +/- 0.4 s and a quasi-sinusoidal pulse shape.  Its
spectrum was well fitted with a power law having a photon index of
0.6 +/- 0.2; the x-ray flux in the band 0.7-10.0 keV was 3.6 x
10E-12 erg sE-1 cmE-2.  AX J0058-72.0 was detected on 1997 Nov. 14
at R.A. = 0h57m57s, Decl. = -72o02'46" (equinox 2000.0; +/- 1' at
90-percent confidence).  Its pulse period was 280.4 +/- 0.3 s, with
a single-peaked pulse shape; its spectrum was well fitted with a
power law having a photon index of 1.0 +/- 0.3, and its x-ray flux
in the band 0.7-10.0 keV was 2.4 x 10E-12 erg sE-1 cmE-2."


SUPERNOVAE 1997dq AND 1998W
     S. Moretti and S. Tomaselli, Forli, Italy, report the
following unfiltered CCD magnitude estimates using GSC reference
stars:  SN 1997dq in NGC 3810 (cf. IAUC 6770), Mar. 26.92 UT, 17.6;
SN 1998W in NGC 3075 (cf. IAUC 6843), Mar. 26.91, 17.1.

                      (C) Copyright 1998 CBAT
1998 March 30                  (6853)            Daniel W. E. Green