COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
        INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                     NUMBER 653

                                        Konkoly Observatory
                                        Budapest
                                        1972 April 2


            SUPERNOVA 1954 IN THE SBp GALAXY NGC 4027


Photographic plates with the centre R.A.=11h56.5; Dec.=-18deg48' taken with the
90/60/180 cm Schmidt-telescope of the Konkoly Observatory on Piszkesteto on
March 17, 1972 were compared with the Palomar Sky Survey blue and red prints
No. 1030, April 2/3, 1954. On the Palomar prints the knot at the end of the
northern spiral arm of the SBp galaxy NGC 4027 R.A.=11h57.0m; Dec.=-18deg59';
1950, has the same brightness like the star A on the sketch. On our
photographic plates this knot is about three magnitudes fainter, it is of about
17mag. We find the same situation in the photograph published by W.W. Morgan
in P.A.S.P., 70, 364, 1958.

                           [FIGURE 1]

It seems most likely that a supernova appeared in the a above mentioned part of
the galaxy NGC 4027 in 1954 when the Palomar Sky Survey plate was obtained.
The position of the supernova is marked on the sketch. Its distance from the
centre of the bar is 31."2 E and 48."0 N, its magnitude is about 14.


March 23, 1972

M. LOVAS
Konkoly Observatory
Budapest XII