Circular No. 7213
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)
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Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)


COMET C/1999 N1 (SOHO)
     D. A. Biesecker, SM&A Corporation and Goddard Space Flight
Center, reports observations of another apparent Kreutz sungrazing
comet discovered by Darren Lewis (University of Birmingham) in the
SOHO/LASCO data.  The comet is visible in both the C2 and C3
telescopes, and no tail is evident.  Astrometric measurements made
by Biesecker (and reduced by B. G. Marsden), together with orbital
elements by Marsden, are given on MPEC 1999-N02.

     1999 UT            R.A. (2000) Decl.
     July 1.071        6 30.6       +21 10


GRB 990627
     L. Nicastro, Istituto di Fisica Cosmica ed Applicazioni
all'Informatica, CNR, Palermo; L. A. Antonelli, Osservatorio
Astronomico, Rome; M. Dadina and M. R. Daniele, BeppoSAX Science
Data Center, Rome; E. Costa, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, CNR,
Rome; and E. Pian, Istituto di Tecnologie e Studio Radiazioni
Extraterrestri, CNR, Bologna, report:  "The BeppoSAX Wide Field
Camera (WFC) error box of GRB 990627 (IAUC 7211, GCN 356) was
observed from June 27.54 (8 hr after the gamma-ray trigger) to
28.86 UT, using the Narrow Field Instruments of BeppoSAX.  Two
weak, previously unknown sources designated as 1SAX J0148.5-7704
(R.A. = 1h48m27s, Decl. = -77o04'.6, equinox 2000.0; error radius
1') and 1SAX J0149.1-7709 (R.A. = 1h49m13s, Decl. = -77o08'.9) were
detected by the MECS units.  1SAX J0149.1-7709 is outside of the 3'
WFC error-circle (4'.5 from the WFC centroid), and its flux does
not vary during the observation.  1SAX J0148.5-7704 lies at 43"
from the WFC centroid and fades by a factor three or more.  Its
mean 2-10-keV flux during the first half of the observation is 3.5
x 10**-13 erg cm**-2 s**-1 (assuming a Crab-like energy spectrum
and Galactic value for the electron column density), and it is no
longer detectable in the second half.  The 1SAX J0148.5-7704
position is compatible with the radio source AT J014832.6-770412
reported by Subrahmanyan et al. (GCN 357).  We conclude that this
source is the x-ray afterglow of GRB 990627."

                      (C) Copyright 1999 CBAT
1999 July 1                    (7213)            Daniel W. E. Green