[IAUC] CBET 2662: 20110301 : SUPERNOVA 2011ai = PSN J14290502+4154427

[quai en eps.harvard.edu]

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 2662
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 2011ai = PSN J14290502+4154427
     E. Briggs, J. Newton, and T. Puckett report the discovery of an apparent
supernova (mag 17.0) on unfiltered CCD images (limiting mag 19.0) taken with
a 0.40-m reflector at Portal, AZ, U.S.A., on Feb. 24.442 UT, in the course of
the Puckett Observatory Supernova Search.  The new object (which was
designated PSN J14290502+4154427 when posted at the Central Bureau's TOCP
webpage and is given the permanent designation SN 2011ai here) is located at
R.A. = 14h29m05s.02, Decl. = +41o54m42s.7 (equinox 2000.0), which is 6".8
west and 11".8 north of the center of PGC 2188954.  Additional unfiltered
CCD magnitudes for 2011ai:  Jan. 9, [19.3 (Puckett); Feb. 25.375, 16.9
(Puckett); 27.301, 16.6 (R. A. Koff, Bennett, CO, U.S.A.; position end
figures 05s.05, 41".9 (UCAC3 catalogue).

     G. H. Marion and P. Challis, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
(CfA), on behalf of the CfA Supernova Group, report that a spectrum (range
340-740 nm) of 2011ai was obtained on Mar. 1 UT by P. Berlind 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 2011ai is a type-Ia supernova near
maximum light.  The velocity of the Si II 635.5-nm feature, measured at
the absorption minimum, is 11600 km/s.


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                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 March 1                     (CBET 2662)              Daniel W. E. Green