Young Type Ia Supernova PTF11kly in M101
ATel #3581; Peter Nugent (LBL/UCB), Mark Sullivan (Oxford), David Bersier (Liverpool John Moores), D. A. Howell (LCOGT/UCSB), Rollin Thomas (LBL), Phil James (Liverpool John Moores)
on 24 Aug 2011; 23:47 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Supernovae
Credential Certification: R. C. Thomas (rcthomas@lbl.gov)
Subjects: Optical, Supernovae
Referred to by ATel #: 3582, 3583, 3584, 3588, 3589, 3590, 3592, 3594, 3597, 3598, 3602, 3605, 3607, 3620, 3623, 3642, 3683, 3696, 3822, 5714, 7392
The Type Ia supernova science working group of the Palomar Transient Factory (ATEL #1964) reports the discovery of the Type Ia supernova PTF11kly at RA=14:03:05.81, Dec=+54:16:25.4 (J2000) in the host galaxy M101. The supernova was discovered on Aug. 24 UT when it was at magnitude 17.2 in g-band (calibrated with respect to the USNO catalog). There was nothing at this location on Aug 23 UT to a limiting magnitude of 20.6. A preliminary spectrum obtained Aug 24 UT with FRODOSPEC on the Liverpool Telescope indicates that PTF11kly is probably a very young Type Ia supernova: Broad absorption lines (particularly Ca II IR triplet) are visible. The presence of an H-alpha feature is confidently rejected. STIS/UV spectroscopic observations on the Hubble Space Telescope are being triggered by the ToO program "Towards a Physical Understanding of the Diversity of Type Ia Supernovae" (PI: R. Ellis). Given that the supernova should brighten by 6 magnitudes, the strong age constraint, and the fact that the supernova will soon be behind the sun, we strongly encourage additional follow-up of this source at all wavelengths.
