KAIT Discovery and Robotic Follow-up of PSN J03220535-1523156
ATel #3900; S. B. Cenko, W. Li, and A. V. Filippenko (UC Berkeley)
on 1 Feb 2012; 07:28 UT
Credential Certification: S. Bradley Cenko (cenko@astro.berkeley.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Supernovae, Transient
We report the discovery with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) at Lick Observatory of a possible new supernova in the nearby (d = 32.3 Mpc; Riess et al. 2009, ApJ, 699, 539) galaxy NGC 1309. The new object, dubbed PSN J03220535-1523156 (by the IAU), is located at (J2000.0) coordinates RA: 03:22:05.35, Dec: -15:23:15.6 .
Following discovery on an unfiltered image obtained at 3:43 UT on 2012 Jan. 29, KAIT autonomously began a sequence of triggered follow-up observations in the U, B, V, and clear (roughly R) filters beginning only 3 minutes later. Using photometric calibration stars obtained during imaging of SN 2002fk (a SN Ia which occurred in the same galaxy; Ganeshalingam et al. 2010, ApJS, 190, 418),
we measure the following magnitudes for the possible supernova at this time: B = 18.39 +/- 0.25, V = 18.00 +/- 0.16, and R = 18.05 +/- 0.05.
Previous KAIT imaging on 2012 Jan. 26 revealed no emission at this location to a limiting magnitude of R > 19.0. This limit, together with the relatively faint absolute magnitude (M_V = -14.6), suggests that if this source is indeed a supernova, it is likely to be relatively young.
Further observations are encouraged.
