[IAUC] CBET 2669: 20110307 : SUPERNOVA 2011ao IN IC 2973 = PSN J11535103+3321463

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 2669
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 2011ao IN IC 2973 = PSN J11535103+3321463
     A. Kroes, J. Newton, and T. Puckett report the discovery of an apparent
supernova (mag 17.1) on an unfiltered CCD image (limiting mag 19.0) taken with
a 0.40-m reflector at Portal, AZ, U.S.A., on Mar. 3.434 UT in the course of
the Puckett Observatory Supernova Search.  The new object is located at R.A. =
11h53m51s.03, Decl. = +33o21'46".3 (equinox 2000.0), which is 2".9 east and
9".9 south of the center of IC 2973.  When the presumed supernova was posted
at the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage, it was assigned the designation PSN
J11535103+3321463; based on the spectroscopic report below, it is here given
the designation SN 2011ao.  Additional unfiltered CCD magnitudes for 2011ao:
Feb. 11, [19.1 (Puckett); Mar. 4.344, 16.7 (Puckett); Mar. 5.514, 15.6 (J.
Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; remotely using a 51-cm RCOS telescope +
STL11K camera at New Mexico Skies Observatory, Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; position
end figures 51s.01, 46".2).  Brimacombe has posted his image at website URL
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/5499034377/.  The peculiar type-Ic
supernova 1991A also appeared in IC 2973 (cf. IAUCs 5153, 5155, 5169).

     D. K. Sahu and Sonam Arora, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore,
report that a spectrum (wavelength range 350-750 nm) of PSN J11535103+3321463
= 2011ao was obtained on Mar. 5.99 UT with the Indian Astronomical
Observatory's 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (+ HFOSC).  Using the SNID code
of Blondin and Tonry (2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024), the spectrum of 2011ao is found
to be that of a normal type-Ia supernova, with a best match that of SN 2003du
at about a week before maximum light.  The velocity corresponding to the
minimum of the Si II 635.5-nm absorption feature is estimated as 16000 km/s.


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 March 7                     (CBET 2669)              Daniel W. E. Green