From IAU Bulletin 7143 (4/15/99):
P. Garnavich, S. Jha, P. Challis, and R. Kirshner, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, report that a spectrum of SN1999br ......(shows) this is a type-II event discovered at an early stage. .....a CCD spectrum ..... obtained on Apr. 15 by D. Stern (Berkeley) and M. Reuland(Leiden) ...... reveals that the object is indeed a supernova, possibly of type II. However, the spectrum is peculiar, .....If the supernova is indeed associated with NGC 4900, it is very subluminous, regardless of its type.
Follow this Link to a NASA Web site on supernovas. It has a very nice animation and a description of what these objects are.
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 3198:
This Barred Spiral Galaxy is a part of the great Virgo galaxy cluster, but shows no sign of interaction with other galaxies. The short bar consists of both stars and glowing hydrogen. Although classified as a spiral, there is little evidence of continuous arms. Rather, there appears to be just knotty arcs surrounding the bar and nucleus.
Observed visually thru Kopernik's 20 inch telescope, this galaxy appears as an evenly illuminated and perfectly round disk. There is no hint of any detail or structure. Light from the 11th magnitude foreground star almost overwhelms the galaxy.
The Kopernik CCD image shows part of a much more distant cluster of about a dozen galaxies dimly glowing in the upper right to right center of the image. These galaxies are dimmer than 18th magnitude, and must be substantially farther away than NGC 4900.
Dreyer's description from the New General Catalog(NGC): Considerably bright, considerably extended, 10th magnitude star attached 135° +/-.
Based on the published red shift, a rough distance estimate for NGC 4900 and supernova 1999br is: 51,000,000 light years, with the galaxy being 32,600 light years in diameter.
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George Normandin, KAS
May 13th, 1999