[IAUC] CBET 1206: 20080113 : SUPERNOVA 2008E

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 1206
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 2008E
     F. Yuan, University of Michigan; R. Quimby, California Institute of
Technology; C. Akerlof, University of Michigan; and J. C. Wheeler, University
of Texas, on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration, report the discovery of a
supernova in unfiltered CCD images taken with the 0.45-m ROTSE-IIIb telescope
at McDonald Observatory on Jan. 4.47 (at mag about 18.2) and 6.28 UT (mag
about 18.0).  The new object is located at R.A. = 11h25m36s.95, Decl. =
+52o08'25".9 (equinox 2000.0; uncertainty < 1"), which is 0".1 west and 1".6
south of a marginally detected galaxy of magnitude r = 21.6 in the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey, and lies in the midst of a group of galaxies at redshift
0.034; a finding chart of 2008E can be found at the following website URL:
http://www.rotse.net/rsvp/j112537+520826/j112536.9+520826.jpg.  A spectrum
(range 420-890 nm) of 2008E, obtained on Jan. 7.35 with the 9.2-m Hobby-Eberly
Telescope (+ Marcario Low-Resolution Spectrograph) by S. Odewahn and E.
Terrazas, shows it to be a type-Ia supernova.  The spectrum is similar to that
of SN 1992A a few days before maximum light (Kirshner et al. 1993, Ap.J. 415,
589), and is consistent with the redshift of the nearby galaxy cluster.


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                         (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2008 January 13                  (CBET 1206)              Daniel W. E. Green