Dear Hitoshi and readers, for unfiltered CCD measurements of Southern star fields (Decl <-15), I would suggest to use the USNO-A2.0 B and R mags only to get an indication of the star colours. To derive a sequence for CVs and SNe, it suffices to select a handful non-red reference stars and to use their UCAC1 mags as approximate R values. The UCAC1 mags are close to R, but apply to a slightly shorter effective wavelength. Therefore the term 'orange magnitude' (O) is sometimes used. For blue stars (B-V<0.3) I assume O=R. If the stars are not 'blue' enough, I modify those values slightly. Regards, Berto >>> Hitoshi YAMAOKA <yamaoka@rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp> 11/15/02 05:39PM >>> Dear SN watchers, I have examined the field of SN 2002hc (NGC 2559), and found that the r magnitude of USNO-A2.0 in this field is very incredible for most stars. For example, two stars about 1' SW-WSW of the SN (star A and star B): USNO-A2.0 GSC-2.2.1 RA Dec r b F(~r) J(~b) V 08:17:02:5 -27:27:57 17.1 15.5 15.22 -- 15.42 star A 08:17:01.8 -27:27:41 16.9 16.5 15.35 15.78 15.45 star B The UCAC1 magnitude (Berto's reference magnitudes) is comparable to the GSC-2.2.1 red magnitude, especially in non-red stars. For example, USNO-A2.0 GSC-2.2.1 UCAC1 RA Dec r b F(~r) J(~b) V UCmag 08:16:52.7 -27:27:20 14.1 13.3 12.45 13.33 12.93 12.60 08:17:19.6 -27:30:33 15.8 15.1 13.80 15.19 14.43 14.13 08:17:11.3 -27:28:00 15.6 15.8 13.45 -- 13.95 13.53 The KAIT discovery image shows that the SN was as bright as star A or B (http://astron.berkeley.edu/~bait/2002/sn2002hc.html). So, the discovery magnitude reported in IAUC 7999 (mag about 17) seems to be underestimated, when we rely on the GSC 2.2 magnitudes or UCAC1 magnitudes. Note that there is bright H II region in the neighbour of SN 2002hc, so the magnitude estimate of this object requires background subtraction. B. Monard has kindly supply the image taken on Nov 4.927 and the reference image taken on Sept. 9. I performed the subtraction, and measured the magnitude of SN was mag about 15.4CR, based on GSC2.2 Fmag and UCAC1 magnitude. For southern objects, it is considerable to verify the cataloged magnitudes between USNO-A2.0, GSC 2.2.1 and UCAC1, I guess. Sincerely Yours, Hitoshi Yamaoka, Kyushu Univ., Japan yamaoka@rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp