[IAUC] CBET 1362: 20080501 : SUPERNOVA 2008cd IN NGC 5038

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 1362
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 2008cd IN NGC 5038
     S. Blondin, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), on
behalf of the CfA Supernova Group, reports that a spectrogram (range 350-740
nm) of 2008cd (cf. CBET 1360), obtained by P. Berlind on Apr. 30.28 UT with
the F. L. Whipple Observatory 1.5-m telescope (+ FAST), shows it to be a
highly reddened type-Ia supernova around maximum light.  The supernova
spectrum is heavily contaminated by that of its host galaxy but enables the
identification of a strong blueshifted absorption due to Si II (rest 635.5
nm), characteristic of type-Ia supernovae.  Adopting a recession velocity of
2222 km/s for the host galaxy (from Strauss et al. 1992, Ap.J. Suppl. 83,
29), the maximum absorption in the Si II line (rest 635.5 nm) is blueshifted
by roughly 10500 km/s.  Also, interstellar Na I D absorption at the redshift
of the host galaxy is visible in the spectrum with an equivalent width of
0.4 nm.


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                         (C) Copyright 2008 CBAT
2008 May 1                       (CBET 1362)              Daniel W. E. Green