Electronic Telegram No. 3276
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 2012fr IN NGC 1365 = PSN J03333599-3607377
[NOTE:  This text replaces that on CBET 3275 (erratum; SN 1983V spectral type)]
     A. Klotz, Observatoire de Haute Provence, on behalf of the TAROT
Collaboration, reports the discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 15.6)
on two 30-s unfiltered public images from the 0.25-m robotic telescope "TAROT"
at La Silla, Chile, taken on Oct. 27.05 UT.  The new object is located at
R.A. = 3h33m35s.99, Decl. = -36o07'37".7 (equinox 2000.0), which
is 3" west and 52" north of the nucleus of NGC 1365.  Klotz has posted images
at website URL http://cador.obs-hp.fr/sn_tarot/PSN_J03333599-3607377.  The
variable was designated PSN J03333599-3607377 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012fr based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Supernova 1957C, the type-II
supernova 1983V (IAUC 3895), and the type-IIP supernova 2001du (IAUC 7704)
also appeared in NGC 1365.  Additional CCD magnitudes for 2012fr (unfiltered
unless noted otherwise):  Oct. 19.37, [19.2 (Klotz); 24.02, [19.3 (Jonathan
Normand, France; stacked R-band images taken with a 60-cm telescope at the
Observatoire des Makes, Reunion Island; via Klotz); 24.05, [15.8 (Klotz);
27.125, 16.0 (Emmanuel Conseil, France; images obtained with the 0.5-m Slooh
Space Camera robotic telescope on Canaria Island; via Klotz); 28.36, 15.1
(Stuart Parker, Oxford, Canterbury, New Zealand; Celestron C14 f/6.3
telescope + ST10 camera; poor seeing conditions; position end figures 36s.22,
35".6; image posted at URL http://www.bosssupernova.com/confirmingimages.htm);
29.149, R = 15.46 +/- 0.03 (Joaquin Fabrega and Alain Maury; 30-cm f/6.7
telescope + STL11000 camera at the Observatorio Panameno, San Pedro de
Atacama, Chile; position end figures 36s.25, 35".1); 29.22, B = 14.69, V =
14.27, R = 14.02 (Klotz; magnitudes calibrated using sixteen LONEOS catalogue
stars in the nearby field of NGC 1316); 30.22, B = 13.96, V = 13.78, R =
13.64 (Klotz).

     M. Childress, G. Zhou, B. Tucker, D. Bayliss, R. Scalzo, F. Yuan, and B.
Schmidt, Australian National University (ANU), write that they obtained a
spectrogram (range 360-1000 nm at 0.1-nm resolution) of PSN J03333599-3607377
= SN 2012fr on Oct. 28.533 UT with the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS; cf.
Dopita et al. 2007, Ap. Space Sci. 10, 255) on the ANU 2.3-m telescope at
Siding Spring Observatory.  The object displays clear signatures of a young
type-Ia supernova, including the Si 635.5-nm line observed at 591.0 nm (22000
km/s), and a broad high-velocity Ca infrared triplet observed at 770.0 nm.
The object's spectrum was compared to supernova spectral templates using SNID
(Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024), and the best type-Ia supernova
match was to the spectrum of SN 2003W at -11 days and redshift z = 0.

     Christian Buil, Castanet, France, reports that he obtained spectroscopy
of PSN J03333599-3607377 = SN 2012fr on Oct. 20.01 UT with a LISA spectrograph
(spectral resolution 0.8 nm) and a 0.235-m telescope, showing the variable
to have features of a typical-Ia supernova; his spectrum is posted at website
URL http://www.astrosurf.com/buil/supernovae/2012/index.htm.


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

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 October 31                  (CBET 3276)              Daniel W. E. Green