2009CBET.1955....3I

K. Itagaki, Yamagata, Japan; H. Kaneda, Sapporo, Japan; and H. Yamaoka, Kyushu University, report that a dim spot has been observed near the position of 2009jf on several images in the past few decades. It was detected twice on Itagaki's archived unfiltered CCD images taken with a 0.60-m reflector: 2006 Nov. 8.499 UT, at magnitude about 18.2 (position end figures 53s.08, 58".8), and 2007 Aug. 13.740, at mag about 18.3 (position end figures 53s.00, 59".1). Digitized Sky Survey images at several epochs also show this object, including on 1953 Aug. 19.426, at mag about 18 (O plate), and on 1992 Aug. 2.397, at mag about 18 (J plate). Adopting m-M = 32.55 (Tully, 1988, "Nearby Galaxy Catalog"), its absolute magnitude is -14.5 or so, which strongly suggests that these may be recurring outbursts of a luminous blue variable.