[IAUC] CBET 3110: 20120517 : SUPERNOVA 2012cf IN PGC 48432 = PSN J13411049+3022372

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3110
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 2012cf IN PGC 48432 = PSN J13411049+3022372
     L. Cox, R. Post, and T. Puckett report the discovery of an apparent
supernova (mag 17.3) on an unfiltered CCD image (limiting mag 18.9) taken with
a 0.43-m reflector at Trenton, ME, U.S.A., on May 14.1727 UT in the course
of the Puckett Observatory Supernova Search.  The new object is located at
R.A. = 13h41m10.49, Decl. = +30o22'37".2 (equinox 2000.0), which is 8".7 west
and 4".8 south of the center of PGC 48432.  An image is posted at website URL
http://www.possdata.com/PSNJ13411049+3022372.jpg.  The variable was
designated PSN J13411049+3022372 when it was posted at the Central Bureau's
TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012cf based on the spectroscopic
confirmation reported below.  Additional CCD magnitudes for 2012cf:  May 5,
[19.0 (Puckett); May 15.1335, 17.1 (J. Newton, 0.40-m reflector at Portal,
AZ); 17.0175, R_c = 17.0 (Massimiliano Martignoni, Magnago, Italy, 0.25-m
f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector; position end figures 10s.37, 37".3).

     G. H. Marion, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), on
behalf of the CfA Supernova Group, report that a spectrum (range 340-740 nm)
of PSN J13411049+3022372 = 2012cf was obtained on May 17 UT by J. Irwin with
the F. L. Whipple Observatory 1.5-m telescope (+ FAST).  Cross-correlation
with a library of supernova spectra using the "Supernova Identification" code
(SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024) shows that 2012cf is a type-Ia
supernova a few days before maximum brightness.  A good fit is found to the
template of SN 2002er at 4 days before maximum.  The velocity of the Si II
635.5-nm absorption feature is measured to be approximately 11800 km/s, using
an estimated redshift of z = 0.039861 for PGC 48432 as reported in NED (de
Vaucouleurs et al. 1991, RC3.9C).


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 May 17                      (CBET 3110)              Daniel W. E. Green