2003IAUC.8171....2G

A. Gal-Yam and D. Maoz, Tel Aviv University, write that reanalysis (using improved image-subtraction software) of numerous unfiltered CCD images of the field of the galaxy cluster Abell 136, obtained with the Wise Observatory 1-m telescope, shows that the the source reported as SN 1998ev (cf. IAUC 7055) is probably not variable. Similar reanalysis of images of the field of the galaxy cluster Abell 1697 shows that the source reported as SN 1999cu (cf. IAUC 7210) is indeed variable, although certainly not a supernova, with a temporal behavior consistent with that of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). R. Chornock and A. V. Filippenko, University of California, Berkeley, report that inspection of a CCD spectrum (range 320-930 nm), obtained on 2003 June 29 UT with the Keck-I telescope, shows that the host galaxy of the object 1999dc (cf. IAUC 7227) is, in fact, an AGN at a redshift of 0.791; Gal-Yam and Maoz therefore conclude that 1999dc was probably not a supernova, either.