[IAUC] CBET 3307: 20121125 : SUPERNOVA 2012gq IN PGC 10886 = PSN J02524601+4655523

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3307
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 2012gq IN PGC 10886 = PSN J02524601+4655523
     Bin Wang, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China; and Xing Gao, Urumqi, Xinjiang,
China, report the discovery of an apparent supernova (mag approximately 17.7)
on a 40-s unfiltered CCD survey image (limiting mag about 18.5) taken by Xing
Gao in course of the Xingming Observatory Sky Survey using a 0.36-m f/6.9
Celestron C14 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at Mt. Nanshan around Nov. 14.667
UT.  The new object is approximately located at R.A. = 2h52m46s.01, Decl. =
+46d55'52".3 (equinox 2000.0), which is about 18".3 east and 25".2 south of
the center of PGC 10886.  Nothing is visible at this position on archival
images taken on Nov. 2 (limiting mag 18.0), Oct. 26 (limiting mag 18.4), or on
a Digitized Sky Survey image from 1989 Oct. 1 (limiting mag about 19.8).  The
discoverer's images are posted at http://www.xjltp.com/XOSS/XM05BW/XM05BW.htm.
The variable was designated PSN J02524601+4655523 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012gq based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Additional CCD magnitudes for
2012gq (unfiltered unless noted otherwise):  Nov. 10.842, 17.6 (Wang and Gao;
prediscovery; position end figures 45s.90, 52".5); 15.422, 18.1 (Joseph
Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; luminance filter; position end figures 46s.01,
52".5); 17.028, 18.0 (Federica Luppi and Luca Buzzi, Varese, Italy; position
end figures 45s.95, 52".2); 20.923, 17.3 (J. Nicolas, Vallauris, France;
0.41-m f/3.3 reflector; position end figures 45s.96, 52".3).  Brimacombe's
image is posted at URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/8189076189/.
The image of Luppi and Buzzi is posted at the following website URL:
http://www.astrogeo.va.it/pub/TOCP/PSN_P10886.jpg.

     R. Kotak, T.-W. Chen, and M. Fraser, Queen's University, Belfast, report
that a spectrogram (range 330-975 nm; resolution about 1000) of PSN
J02524601+4655523 = SN 2012gq was obtained on Nov. 21.08 UT with the 4.2-m
William Herschel Telescope (+ ISIS).  SN 2012gq has a nearly flat continuum,
with only a slight increase in flux towards the blue.  The only evident
feature is broad (around a few thousand km/s) emission at low signal-to-noise,
centered on the rest wavelength of H_alpha in PGC 10886.  While the largely
featureless continuum is similar to what is seen in young type-II supernovae,
pre-discovery images constrain 2012gq to be at least 10 days old, while the
slope of the spectrum is also inconsistent with a young supernova.


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

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 November 25                 (CBET 3307)              Daniel W. E. Green