Spectroscopic Classification of AT2016axb (=PS16axi)
ATel #8822; Peter Blanchard, Edo Berger, Allyson Bieryla, Bryan Brzycki, Amy Cohn, Sean Dillett, Richard Feder-Staehle, Danielle Frostig, Gabe Grell, Nicholas James, April Johnson, Zahra Mahmood, Hunter Merryman, Barra Peak, Cecilia Sanders, Anthony Taylor (Harvard University)
on 16 Mar 2016; 10:22 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Supernovae
Credential Certification: Edo Berger (eberger@cfa.harvard.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Supernovae
We obtained a low-resolution optical spectrum of AT2016axb (=PS16axi) reported by the Pan-STARRS Survey for Transients (PSST; Huber et al., ATel #7153). Observations were carried out on 2016 March 16.3 UT using the FAST spectrograph mounted on the F.L. Whipple Observatory 1.5-m telescope. The spectrum was obtained during an observing trip to FLWO as part of the Harvard Astronomy 100 ("Observational Methods") undergraduate course. Using the supernova classification tool GELATO (Harutyunyan et al., 2008, A&A, 488, 383; gelato.tng.iac.es), we find a best match with a Type Ia supernova near maximum light. After correcting for the host galaxy redshift of z=0.03922 (from SDSS and 2DF), the velocity of the minimum of the Si II 635.5 nm feature is estimated to be about -9600 km/s.
