[IAUC] CBET 1314: 20080326 : SUPERNOVA 2008bj IN MCG +08-22-20

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 1314
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
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SUPERNOVA 2008bj IN MCG +08-22-20
     F. Yuan, University of Michigan; R. Quimby, California Institute of
Technology; D. Chamarro, M. D. Sisson, and C. Akerlof, University of Michigan;
and J. C. Wheeler, University of Texas, on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration,
report the discovery of a supernova (mag about 18.8) in unfiltered CCD images
taken on Mar. 12.28 UT with the 0.45-m ROTSE-IIIb telescope at McDonald
Observatory.  The new object, which brightened to mag about 17.1 on Mar.
22.21, is located at R.A. = 11h51m47s.80, Decl. = +46o52'29".8 (equinox
2000.0), or 1".8 east and 6".7 north of the center of MCG +08-22-20 (whose
SDSS redshift is z = 0.019).  A finding chart for 2008bj is given at the
following URL:  http://rotse.net/rsvp/j115147.8+465230/j115147.8+465230.jpg.
A spectrogram (range 420-890 nm) of 2008bj, obtained on Mar. 25.16 with the
9.2-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope (+ Marcario Low-Resolution Spectrograph) by J.
Caldwell and V. Riley, shows it to be a type-II supernova.  The spectra are
similar to that of SN 2006bp at about 12 days after explosion (Quimby et al.
2007, Ap.J. 666, 1093).


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                         (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2008 March 26                    (CBET 1314)              Daniel W. E. Green