Five transients in the Pan-STARRS1 Faint Galaxy Supernova Survey
ATel #3351; S. J. Smartt, S. Valenti, L. Magill, K. Smith, E. Kankare, S. Mattila, R. Kotak, M. Fraser (Queen's University Belfast); M. Ward, S. Hutton, N. Metcalfe (Durham University);, F. Bresolin, R. Kudritzki, J. Tonry, E. Magnier, K. Chambers, N. Kaiser, J. Morgan, W. Burgett, J. Heasley, W. Sweeney, C. Waters, H. Flewelling (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii); P. A. Price (Princeton), M. W. Wood-Vasey (Univ. of Pittsburgh).
on 15 May 2011; 19:45 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Supernovae
Credential Certification: Stephen Smartt (s.smartt@qub.ac.uk)
We report observations of five transients during the course of the PS1
3Pi sky survey. The "3Pi Faint Galaxy Supernova Survey" independently
discovered the two blue optical transients reported by CRTS and PTF in
ATels #3343, #3344. CSS 110406:135058+261642 (=PTF11dij = PS1-11xk) was found at g=17.96,
r=18.17, i=18.42 on April 15.1 (UT).
CSS110208:135717-093238 (=PS1-11xl) was found at i=17.12 on April 15.0
and g=16.98 on April 30.8 UT. Images from PS1 were taken on 13 epochs
before the earliest CRTS discovery point. The source displayed
short timescale variability. Two r-band images on 2010 Apr
12, separated by 13mins show a detection limit r>21.5 and a detection
at r=20.9. This supports the variability reported from CRTS and
together with the point source nature implies a galactic source.
PS1-11xm (Coord: 13:43:05.64 +52:08:43.0) was discovered at i=19.1 on
Apr 19, coincident with SDSS J134305.64+520842.9 (i=20.49). A spectrum
was obtained on May 8 at the Nordic Optical Telescope (+ALFOSC+Gr4;
range 350-910nm), showing a blue continuum with narrow Balmer lines
(FWHM ~ 1200 km/s) at a redshift of 0.35 (and very weak [OIII] 5007).
The spectrum is almost identical to that reported for another PS1
nuclear transient (Valenti et al. ATel #
2838), and is similar to both
narrow-line Seyferts and also
SN1994W (Chugai et al. 2004, MNRAS, 352,
1213; Dessart et al. 2009, MNRAS, 394, 21) and
SN2008AM (Chatzopoulos
et al. 2011ApJ, 729, 143). PS1-11xm is also similar to
CSS100217:102913+404220 (Drake et al. arXiv:1103.5514). The AGN or
luminous SN nature of these events is still unclear and remains to be
unveiled with further multi-wavelength coverage.
PS1-11xn (Coord: 14:47:39.58 +51:41:04.70) was discovered
at r=18.55 on Apr 26, coincident with the faint galaxy SDSS
J144739.53+514105.1 (r=21.24). A spectrum at the Isaac Newton
Telescope on May 10 with the IDS (range 450-900nm) shows a blue
continuum with H-alpha and H-beta in emission z=0.04, most likely a type
IIn SN in a M_g = -14 dwarf galaxy.
PS1-11xo (Coord: 13:47:40.73 +59:01:07.2) was discovered at
r=18.92 on Apr 14, 1" offset from the faint galaxy SDSS
J134740.71+590106.2 1 (r=21.12). A spectrum at the Isaac Newton
Telescope on May 10 with the IDS (range 450-900nm) shows it to be a
normal type Ia SN, approx 25 days after peak, in a M_g = -16 dwarf galaxy at z=0.072.
This discovery was enabled using the PS1 System operated by the PS1
Science Consortium (PS1SC) and its member institutions,
http://www.ps1sc.org/PS1_System_ATel.htm . We would like to thank the
PS1 telescope operators for their support of PS1 observations.
The PS1 Science Consortium
