[IAUC] CBET 1576: 20081120 : SUPERNOVA 2008ha IN UGC 12682

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 1576
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
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SUPERNOVA 2008ha IN UGC 12682
     R. J. Foley, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), on
behalf of the CfA Supernova Group, reports that a spectrum (range 350-740 nm)
of 2008ha (cf. CBET 1567), obtained on Nov. 18.18 UT by N. Wright with the F.
L. Whipple Observatory 1.5-m telescope (+ FAST), shows it to be a type-Ia
supernova, similar to the peculiar supernova 2002cx (see Jha et al. 2006,
A.J. 132, 189, for a review of this class of objects).  The spectrum is
similar to SN 2002cx (Li et al. 2003, PASP 115, 453) at 10 days past maximum
light -- but with a velocity about 3000 km/s lower.  Puckett et al. reported
that 2008ha brightened between Nov. 7 and 9 by 0.6 mag (CBET 1567), requiring
that the phase of the supernova at the time of this spectrum to be < 9 days
after maximum brightness.  If the unfiltered light curve is similar to that
of the R-band light curve of SN 2002cx, the spectrum of 2008ha should be <
17 days past maximum in the B band, consistent with the phase estimate.