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ROTSE-III discovery of a SN candidate

ATel #2018; F. Yuan, University of Michigan; J. Vinko, University of Texas; R. Quimby, California Institute of Technology; D. Chamarro, M. D. Sisson and C. Akerlof, University of Michigan; and J. C. Wheeler and E. Chatzopoulos, University of Texas, on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration
on 17 Apr 2009; 20:06 UT
Credential Certification: Fang Yuan (yuanfang@umich.edu)

Subjects: Optical, Nova, Supernovae, Transient

Referred to by ATel #: 2059

We report the discovery of a supernova candidate ROTSE3 J113739.3+465711 (mag 17.5+/-0.2) in unfiltered CCD images taken on Apr 12.78 UT with the 0.45-m ROTSE-IIId telescope at the TUBITAK National Observatory at Bakirlitepe, Turkey. The transient was discovered by subtracting a reference image constructed from images taken in 2008 (limiting mag 19.2). It was also detected by ROTSE-IIIb telescope at the McDonald Observatory at a similar magnitude on Apr. 11, 14, 15 and 16, but not detected on Apr. 7. 16 UT to a limit of ~18.3 mag. The photometry uncertainties are relatively large due to image subtraction. The object, located at R.A. = 11h37m39s.33, Decl. = 46o57'11".3 (equinox 2000.0,uncertainty ~1"), is 3".0 east and 2".5 south of the center of its apparent host galaxy, 2MASX J11373899+4657141. Given the redshift of the host (z=0.039, measured by SDSS) and the observed lightcurve, the object is likely a SN discovered around peak.

The location of the transient is shown in the chart posted at the following website URL: http://rotse.net/rsvp/j113739.3+465711/j113739.3+465711.jpg Note that the new object is blended with the host due to the large pixel scale (3.3") of ROTSE-III.