ROTSE-III Discovery of a Supernova Candidate
ATel #3438; M. Hankins and B. Sandler, University of Michigan; J. Vinko, University of Szeged; R. Quimby, California Institute of Technology; N. Whallon, A. Romadan, F. Yuan, W. Zheng, and C. Akerlof, University of Michigan; and J. C. Wheeler and E. Chatzopoulos, University of Texas, on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration
on 18 Jun 2011; 15:11 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Supernovae
Credential Certification: Weikang Zheng (zwk@umich.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Supernovae
We report the discovery of a SN candidate, ROTSE3 J125008.3+105456 (mag about 18.3) in unfiltered images taken on 2011 May 22.19 UT with the ROTSE-IIIb telescope at McDonald Observatory. The transient was observed again at mag ~18.0 on May 23.24, mag ~18.2 on May 24.58, mag ~18.4 on May 20.15 and mag ~18.4 on June 2.17. But observation performed on June
17.17 UT showed no detection of the object, which should be fainter than
18.6 mag. The new object is located at R.A. = 12h50m08s.33, Decl. =
+10o54'56".2 (equinox 2000.0; uncertainty about 1"), which is 2".9 east
and 2".4 south of the center of the host galaxy SDSS J125008.13
+105458.6. No source was detected at this location in the ROTSE-IIIb
image (limit ~18.6 mag) before 2011 Apr. 23 UT. A finding chart for the object can be found at the following website URL: http://www.rotse.net/rsvp/j125008.3+105456/ROTSE3_J125008.3+105456.jpg
