[IAUC] CBET 2843: 20110929 : SUPERNOVA 2011gj IN UGC 849 = PSN J01192415+1226171

Jue Sep 29 15:19:15 ART 2011

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 2843
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 2011gj IN UGC 849 = PSN J01192415+1226171
     M. Peoples, A. Sehgal, and T. Puckett report the discovery of an apparent
supernova (mag 17.5) on an unfiltered CCD image (limiting mag 19.7) taken with
a 0.50-m reflector at Osoyoos, British Columbia, on Sept. 7.359 UT in the
course of the Puckett Observatory Supernova Search.  The new object, which was
confirmed at mag 17.5 on Sept. 8.355 by Sehgal with his 50-cm telescope at
Osoyoos, is located at R.A. = 1h19m24s.15, Decl. = +12o26'17".1 (equinox
2000.0), which is 0".23 east and 32".2 south of the center of UGC 849.
Nothing is visible at this position on images taken by Puckett on 2010 Sept.
12 (limiting mag 19.9).  A finder image from the discoverers is located at
website URL http://possdata.com/PSNJ01192415+1226171.jpg.  This variable was
designated PSN J01192415+1226171 when it was posted on the Central Bureau's
TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2011gj based on the spectroscopic
confirmation reported below.  Additional CCD magnitudes for 2011gj (unfiltered
unless noted otherwise):  Sept. 9.372, 17.7 (R. A. Koff, Bennett, CO, USA;
Meade 0.25-m f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector + Apogee AP-47p CCD camera;
image scale 2"/pixel; limiting magnitude 19.0 in bright moonlight; position
end figures 24s.14, 17".1, UCAC3 reference stars; image posted at website URL
http://antelopehillsobservatory.org/SNpictures/PSNJ01192415+1226171final.jpg);
9.788, 18.5 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; eleven stacked 300-s images
using an infrared filter; position end figures 24s.14, 17".4; image posted at
website URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/6131754889/).

     S. Valenti, S. Benetti, F. Bufano, L. Tomasella, and P. Ochner,
Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica; and A.
Pastorello, Dipartimento di Astronomia, Universita di Padova, on behalf of a
larger collaboration, report that a spectrogram (range 360-810 nm; resolution
2.2 nm) of PSN J01192415+1226171 = SN 2011gj, obtained by the Service
Telescope Operator Team on Sept. 27.94 UT with the Ekar-Copernico 1.82-m
telescope (+ AFOSC), is that of a type-Ia supernova.  Cross-correlation with a
library of supernova spectra via the "GELATO" code (Harutyunyan et al. 2008,
A.Ap. 488, 383; available at URL https://gelato.tng.iac.es/login.cgi),
suggests a type-Ia supernova about two weeks after the B-band maximum at a
redshift of z = 0.047583 (RC3, de Vaucouleurs et al. 1991, via the NED
website).  The expansion velocity deduced from the Si II 635.5-nm minimum is
about 9500 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 September 29                (CBET 2843)              Daniel W. E. Green