Electronic Telegram No. 3037
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


SUPERNOVA 2012ap IN NGC 1729 = PSN J05001372-0320512
     Further to CBET 3015, L. Jewett, S. B. Cenko, W. Li, and A. V. Filippenko
report the LOSS discovery of an apparent supernova on unfiltered KAIT images:

 SN       2012 UT       R.A. (2000.0) Decl.      Mag.      Offset
 2012ap   Feb. 10.23   5 00 13.72  - 3 20 51.2   17.3    29".2 W, 16".9 N

The variable was designated PSN J05001372-0320512 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012ap based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Additional CCD magnitudes for
2012ap:  Feb. 5.21 UT, [18.7 (KAIT); 11.256, 17.5 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns,
Australia; remotely using a 51-cm RCOS telescope + STL11K camera + luminance
filter at the New Mexico Skies Observatory near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; position
end figures 13s.74, 51".2).  Brimacombe's image is posted at the following
website URL:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/6859557419/.

     D. Milisavljevic, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA); R.
Fesen, Dartmouth College; A. Soderberg and R. Margutti, CfA; and T. Pickering
and A. Kniazev, South African Astronomical Observatory, report that
low-dispersion spectra (range 320-900 nm) obtained Feb. 21.8 UT with the 10-m
SALT telescope (+ RSS) show PSN J05001372-0320512 = SN 2012ap to be a type-Ic
supernova.  Comparison with spectra retrieved from the Supernova Spectrum
Archive (SUSPECT; cf. website URL http://www.nhn.ou.edu/~suspect/) suggest
similarities with the broad-lined supernova 1998bw (Patat et al. 2001, Ap.J.
555, 900) and the transitional supernova 2004aw (Taubenberger et al. 2006,
MNRAS 371, 1459) approximately 1-2 weeks after maximum light.  These spectra
are in general agreement with earlier observations reported by Xu et al.
(http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=3922) but do not show a strong
likeness to 2008D.


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 February 28                 (CBET 3037)              Daniel W. E. Green