Discovery of a supernova ROTSE3 J031512+431013
ATel #1224; F. Yuan, J. Aretakis, C. Akerlof (U. Mich.), R. Quimby (Caltech) and J. C. Wheeler (U. Texas) on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration
on 25 Sep 2007; 23:53 UT
Credential Certification: Fang Yuan (yuanfang@umich.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Supernovae
We report the discovery of a supernova, located at RA: 03:15:12.10, Dec: 43:10:13.0 (J2000, uncertainty <1") in unfiltered CCD images taken by the 0.45m ROTSE-IIIb telescope at McDonald Observatory, Texas. The supernova was first detected at 18.9 +/- 0.1 mag on Sep 7.45 UT. It reached 18.1 +/- 0.1 mag on Sep 14.33 UT and then stayed around 18th mag for ~9 days. It was last observed at 18.3 +/- 0.2 on Sep 25.24 UT. Magnitudes quoted above are unfiltered calibrated relative to USNO B1.0 R. No object was seen at this position in the Digitized Sky Survey image or any USNO archive plates. A finding chart of the supernova can be found at: http://www.rotse.net/transients/j0315+4310/070919_031512+431013.jpg
A spectrum (420-890 nm) of the SN obtained on Sep. 25.29 UT with the 9.2m Hobby-Eberly Telescope (+ Marcario Low-Resolution Spectrograph) by J. Caldwell, E. Terrazas, and V. Riley shows it to be a Type Ia. The spectrum is similar to SN 1994D at about 3 days after maximum light (Patat et al. 1996, MNRAS 278,111). Using the SN 1994D spectrum as a template, the redshift is found to be approximately z=0.05.
