A New Supernova Discovery/Classification
ATel #2453; Peter Nugent (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Mark Sullivan (University of Oxford) & D. Andrew Howell (LCOGT/UCSB)
on 23 Feb 2010; 22:38 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Request For Observations
Credential Certification: Peter Nugent (penugent@lbl.gov)
Subjects: Optical, Ultra-Violet, Supernovae
The Type Ia supernova science working group of the Palomar Transient Factory (ATEL#1964) reports the discovery of a nearby supernova, PTF10bjs. The supernova is at RA = 13:01:11.25, Dec = +53:48:57.5 (J2000), on the outskirts of MCG +09-21-083 at a redshift of 0.0296. The supernova was discovered on Feb. 19.2 UT when it was at magnitude 19.3 in R-band (calibrated wrt the USNO catalog). There was nothing at this location on Feb 17.2 UT to a limiting magnitude of 21.3. A confirmation spectrum was taken with ISIS on the William Herschel Telescope telescope by M. Sullivan et al. on Feb 22. Classification of the spectrum was carried out using Superfit (Howell et al. 2005). Comparison to existing templates clearly showed it was a young SN Ia, but the spectrum is so early that there are no comparable matches. The velocity of Ca II H&K and Si II 6150 show absorption minima at velocities in excess of 24,000 km/s while the full absorption extends to well over 30,000 km/s. STIS/UV spectroscopic observations on the Hubble Space Telescope were triggered by the ToO program "Verifying the Utility of Type Ia Supernovae as Cosmological Probes: Evolution and Dispersion in the Ultraviolet Spectra " (PI: R. Ellis) and by Swift with the ToO program "Unveiling New Classes of Transients with Palomar Transient Factory" (PI: S. Kulkarni). We strongly encourage additional follow-up of this source at all wavelengths.
