PTF Discovery of a Type II Supernova in M51

ATel #3398; J. M. Silverman, A. V. Filippenko, S. B. Cenko (UC Berkeley) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
on 3 Jun 2011; 09:15 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Supernovae
Credential Certification: S. Bradley Cenko (cenko@astro.berkeley.edu)

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The PTF (ATEL #1964, #3253; http://www.astro.caltech.edu/ptf/ ; Law et al. 2009, PASP, 121, 1395; Rau et al. 2009, PASP, 121, 1334) reports the discovery of a new supernova in M51. This object was independently discovered first by A. Riou and reported as PSN J13303600+4706330. PTF discoveries are made by autonomous PTF software, as well as by the Galaxy Zoo Supernova Project (Smith et al. 2011, MNRAS, 412, 1309; http://supernova.galaxyzoo.org ).

 
 
Name     | RA (J2000)  | Dec (J2000) | Discovery | Mag  | Redshift | Type      
| Spec.  | Phase | Instrument     | Notes  
PTF11eon | 13 30 05.08 | +47 10 11.2 | Jun 01.19 | 13.5 | 0.002    | SN II     
| Jun. 2 |       | Keck I+ LRIS   | exact magnitude uncertain due to  
saturation 
 

The spectrum shows a relatively blue continuum, with well-developed P-Cygni profiles in the Balmer series. After removal of the host-galaxy recession velocity of 600 km/s (Rush, et al. 1996, ApJ, 473, 130), the minimum of the H-alpha absorption is blueshifted by about 17,600 km/s.

PTF is a collaboration of Caltech, LCOGT, the Weizmann Institute, LBNL, Oxford, Columbia, IPAC, and Berkeley.