Dear Colleagues, after the message by Didier Favre, forwarded by M. Uemura to the VSNET, I used the telescope at Bellatrix Observatory to check the field. Several CCD frames were grabbed, with exposure times ranging between 15 and 60 seconds, All them show a quite bright object, just were Didier indicates, and it is not reported so bright elsewhere in astronomical reference publications (as DSS). I give astrometry and photometry for this object: 2000 Nov 27.960 R.A: 04h 21m 12.13s Decl: +16d26'16.7" Residulas: 0.1" on both axes. Magnitude: 10.2 R These measurements are based on eight reference stars from USNO A2.0. By the way: this catalogue has no star at that position, even if the star is reported on the DSS, but _definitely_ fainter (several magnitudes)! I posted the frame used for the measurements above at http://vsnet.eurolink.it/comets/possiblenova.jpg North is up, east on the left; image 19.3x13.9 arcminutes wide; 30seconds CCD exposure. So, this probable nova deserves a quite close control by observer. Regards, Gianluca Masi -- *********************************************************************** * Gianluca Masi "Two things fill the soul * * Via Madonna de Loco, 47 with awe and reverence [...]: * * 03023 Ceccano (FR) the starry sky above me and * * ITALY the moral law within me" * * e-mail: gianmasi@fr.flashnet.it * * web: http://vsnet.eurolink.it/comets/ I. Kant * * Minor Planet Center Obs. Code: 470 - Ceccano * * Center for Backyard Astrophysics - Italy * * VSNET Collaboration Team member * ***********************************************************************