Confirmation of AT 2017eaw, a Probable Supernova in NGC 6946

ATel #10372; Subo Dong (KIAA-PKU), K. Z. Stanek (Ohio State)
on 14 May 2017; 12:00 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Supernovae
Credential Certification: Subo Dong (dongsubo@pku.edu.cn)

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Supernova candidate AT 2017eaw was discovered by Patrick Wiggins at 12.8 mag on 2017-05-14 05:42:43. We confirmed AT 2017eaw with images taken by Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO)'s 1m telescope at McDonald observatory on UT 2017-05-14 10:30:31. This figure shows the LCO V-band confirmation image on the left and an archival HST WFC3 image taken on Feb 9, 2016 (Proposal 14156 - PI: Leroy, Adam) on the right. The red circle has a radius of 5" and is centered on the position of the transient reported by Patrick Wiggins (RA: 20:34:44.24 Dec: +60:11:35.90).

As commented by Patrick Wiggins, AT 2017eaw was not detected on May 12 on his images so it is likely a young outburst. The position of AT 2017eaw (RA: 20:34:44.24 Dec: +60:11:35.90) is about 2.4' from the center of NGC 6946 -- a nearby galaxy at z = 0.000133 and distance ~5.5 Mpc (via NED). Follow-up observations are strongly encouraged.

This research uses data obtained through the Telescope Access Program (TAP), which has been funded by "the Strategic Priority Research Program-The Emergence of Cosmological Structures" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No.11 XDB09000000) and the Special Fund for Astronomy from the Ministry of Finance.