Circular No. 6772
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)


X1354-644
     R. Remillard, F. Marshall, and T. Takeshima report for the
RXTE All Sky Monitor (ASM) Team at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Goddard Space Flight Center: "The Rossi X-ray Timing
Explorer's ASM has detected a modest outburst from the recurrent
transient and blackhole-candidate binary, X1354-644.  Renewed x-ray
activity began around Nov. 1, and the average flux over the
interval Nov. 1-9 was 16 mCrab at 2-12 keV, increasing to 26 mCrab
during Nov. 11-16 and to 50 mCrab on Nov. 17-18.  An RXTE PCA
observation between Nov. 18.02 and 18.11 UT found an average flux
of 50 mCrab (2-10 keV).  There were aperiodic variations, with a
range of time scales from subseconds to 1 min and flare amplitudes
as large as a factor of 3.  We encourage radio, optical, and
infrared observations of the counterpart, BW Cir (cf. IAUC 4357)."


CATACLYSMIC VARIABLE IN PEGASUS
     Y.-l. Qiu, Q.-y Qiao, and J.-y. Hu, Beijing Astronomical
Observatory (BAO); and A. Esamdin, Urumqi Astronomical Station, in
the course of the BAO supernova survey with the 0.6-m telescope at
Xinglong Station, have observed another outburst of the cataclysmic
variable star reported on IAUC 6746.  On Nov. 14.44 UT, the star
was at R = 15.0; it was not present on CCD images obtained on Nov.
12 (limiting mag about 17.5).


LEONID METEORS 1997
     Reports of moderate Leonid counts have been received from many
visual observers and suggest that activity peaked around Nov. 17.5-
17.6 UT.  Leonid fireballs of mag -4 to -9 were numerous around
this time.  P. Brown, observing from Edwards Air Force Base, CA,
and D. H. Levy, Tucson, AZ, observed a peak of about 1-2
Leonids/min around Nov. 17.505, after which time the rate dropped
despite darker skies and higher radiant.  S. J. O'Meara, Volcano,
HI, reported seeing several bursts (3-5 in a few seconds) of bright
Leonids visually at Nov. 17.56 and 17.63, and he observed an
overall peak (about 40/hr) around Nov. 17.52-17.57; about a fourth
of the Leonids were brighter than mag 1.  E. P. Bus, Groningen, The
Netherlands, reports that monitoring of VHF radio waves during Nov.
17.2-17.5 yielded many long-duration meteor echoes (> 20 s).  K.
Suzuki, Toyokawa, Aichi, Japan, reports that 50-MHz HAM radio
signals were monitored continuously from Nov. 14.5 to 18.0,
yielding a peak rate of about 60-80 meteors/hr during Nov. 17.7-
17.9, hinting at a possible second activity peak.

                      (C) Copyright 1997 CBAT
1997 November 18               (6772)            Daniel W. E. Green