Swift XRT observations of SN2012fh and pre-explosion UVOT images
ATel #4544; R. Margutti, A. M. Soderberg, D. Milisavljevic (Harvard Univ.)
on 5 Nov 2012; 19:39 UT
Credential Certification: Raffaella Margutti (rmargutti@cfa.harvard.edu)
Subjects: Ultra-Violet, X-ray, Supernovae
SN2012fh is a very nearby type Ic supernova in NGC 3344 (distance of 6.1 Mpc, NED) discovered ~130 days after maximum light (CBET 3263).
A Swift-ToO was executed to observe the field of SN2012fh starting from 2012-10-26T04:50:01 for a total of 9.8 ks. No X-ray emission is detected by Swift/XRT at the SN position down to a 3 sigma limit of 3.7d-3 cts/s in the 0.3-10 keV energy band. Assuming a spectral power-law model, this translates into an unabsorbed 0.3-10 keV flux limit of 1.3d-13 erg/s/cm2, corresponding to a luminosity < 5.7d38 erg/s. The Galactic neutral hydrogen column density in the direction of the SN is 2.46d20 1/cm2 (Kalberla 2005).
The field of SN2012fh was imaged by Swift/UVOT in 2007, in the 6 filters. Spatially extended UV emission is detected at the location of the SN at the level of w1~17.3 mag, w2~ 17.2 mag, and m2~17.2 mag which supports the presence of a stellar association in the proximity of SN2012fh (Fraser, Atel #4507. See also Prieto, Atel #4502).
We thank the Swift team for scheduling these ToO observations.
