[IAUC] CBET 1634: 20081228 : SUPERNOVA 2008il IN ESO 355-G4

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 1634
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
M.S. 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
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SUPERNOVA 2008il IN ESO 355-G4
     G. Pignata, J. Maza, M. Hamuy, R. Antezana, L. Gonzalez, P. Gonzalez, P.
Lopez, S. Silva, G. Folatelli, D. Iturra, R. Cartier, and F. Forster,
Universidad de Chile; B. Conuel, Wesleyan University; and D. Reichart, K.
Ivarsen, A. Crain, D. Foster, M. Nysewander, and A. LaCluyze, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, on behalf of the CHASE project, report the
discovery of an apparent supernova (mag approximately 16.5 +/- 0.2) on an
unfiltered image taken on Dec. 27.14 UT with the 0.41-m 'PROMPT 3' telescope
located at Cerro Tololo.  The new object is located at R.A. = 2h17m53s.07
+/- 0".1, Decl. = -34o47'53".4 +/- 0".1 (equinox 2000), which is about 23".1
west 18".9 north of the center of the galaxy ESO 355-G4.  Nothing is visible
at this position on archival images taken on Dec. 12.08 and 22.19 (limiting
mag 18.0).
     M. Stritzinger, Las Campanas Observatory (LCO), on behalf of the
Carnegie Supernova Project, reports that a spectrum (range 380-920 nm) of
2008il, obtained on Dec. 28.1 UT with the du Pont telecope (+ WFCCD) at LCO,
shows it to be a young type-II supernova.  Adopting a host-galaxy recession
velocity of 6236 km/s (Paturel et al. 2003, A.Ap. 412, 57) for the host
galaxy, H_alpha and H_beta are measured to be blue-shifted by roughly 15000
and 12000 km/s, respectively.  With use of the "SuperNova IDentification"
program (Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024), he finds 2008il to be
very similar to SN 1999em and SN 2004et around a week past explosion.


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                         (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2008 December 28                 (CBET 1634)              Daniel W. E. Green