Electronic Telegram No. 3265
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 2012fi IN PGC 17166 = PSN J05212593-1652559
     S. Howerton, Arkansas City, KS, U.S.A.; A. J. Drake, S. G. Djorgovski, A.
Mahabal, M. J. Graham, and R. Williams, California Institute of Technology;
J. L. Prieto, Princeton University; M. Catelan, Pontificia Universidad
Catolica de Chile; R. H. McNaught, Australian National University; E. C.
Beshore and S. M. Larson, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of
Arizona; and E. Christensen, Gemini Observatory, report the discovery of an
apparent supernova in public images from the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS).

 SN       2012 UT       R.A. (2000.0) Decl.      Mag.      Offset
 2012fi   Oct. 10.42   5 21 25.93  -16 52 55.9   18.0    11".2 E, 21".9 S

The variable was designated PSN J05212593-1652559 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012fi based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Further CCD magnitudes for 2012fi
(unfiltered unless noted otherwise):  Feb. 23.10 UT, [19.5 (CSS); Oct. 17.077,
18.0 (Federica Luppi and Luca Buzzi, Varese, Italy; 0.38-m f/6.8 reflector;
position end figures 26s.07, 58".7; reference stars from USNO-B1.0 catalogue;
image posted at website URL http://www.astrogeo.va.it/pub/TOCP/PSN_P17166.jpg);
Oct. 17.418, 17.6 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; luminance filter;
position end figures 26s.09, 58".9; image posted at the following website URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/8098401906/).  Luppi and Buzzi note
that a knot or H II region is visible in Digitized Sky Survey images within
1".5 of the position of 2012fi.

     F.-Y. Bian, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona; and J. Chen and
X.-F. Wang, Tsinghua Center for Astrophysics, Tsinghua University, report on
an optical spectrogram (range 350-700 nm) of PSN J05212593-1652559 = 2012fi
that was obtained on Oct. 19.4 UT with the MMT (+ Blue Chanel Spectrograph) at
Mount Hopkins.  The spectrum shows broad P-Cyg features of Balmer lines and
He I lines, consistent with a type-IIP supernova at about one month after
maximum.  Cross-correlation with a library of supernova spectra using the
"Supernova Identification" code (SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666,
1024) shows that the spectrum of 2012fi matches that of SN 1999em at +27 days.


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 October 22                  (CBET 3265)              Daniel W. E. Green