[IAUC] CBET 3057: 20120321 : SUPERNOVA 2012az = PSN J03085209+1718032

Mar Mar 20 21:08:39 ART 2012

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3057
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau en eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat en iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network

SUPERNOVA 2012az = PSN J03085209+1718032
     A. J. Drake, S. G. Djorgovski, M. J. Graham, A. Mahabal, and R. Williams,
California Institute of Technology; J. L. Prieto, Princeton University;
M. Catelan, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; E. C. Beshore and
S. M. Larson, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona; and
E. Christensen, Gemini Observatory, report the discovery of an apparent
supernova in unfiltered Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) images:

 SN       2012 UT       R.A. (2000.0) Decl.      Mag.      Offset
 2012az   Mar. 13.12   3 08 52.09  +17 18 03.2   17.4    15".1 E, 15".8 S

The variable was designated PSN J03085209+1718032 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012az based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Additional CCD magnitudes
reported for 2012az (unfiltered unless noted otherwise):  Feb. 25.14 UT, [20.2
(CSS); Mar. 14.105, 17.6 (R. A. Koff, Bennett, CO, USA; Meade 0.25-m f/10
reflector + Apogee AP-47p camera; limiting magnitude 19.5; position end
figures 52s.14, 03".9; UCAC3 reference stars); 15.132, 17.6 (J. Brimacombe,
Cairns, Australia; remotely using a 51-cm RCOS telescope + STL11K camera +
luminance filter at the New Mexico Skies Observatory near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.;
position end figures 52s.11, 03".6; image posted at the following webiste URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/6988644261/); 16.13, 17.5 (Mount
Lemmon Survey).

     L. Tomasella, S. Valenti, A. Pastorello, S. Benetti, and P. Ochner,
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, report
that a spectrogram of PSN J03085209+1718032 = SN 2012az, obtained on Mar.
16.79 UT with the 1.82-m Copernico Telescope (+ AFOSC; range 340-790 nm,
resolution 2.2 nm), indicates that it is a type-Ia supernova.  Cross-
correlation with a library of supernova spectra via the "Supernova
Identification" code (SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024) shows
that 2012az is similar to several normal type-Ia supernovae around maximum.

NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 March 21                    (CBET 3057)              Daniel W. E. Green