Electronic Telegram No. 3354
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 2012hx = PSN J05012988-1343464
     A. J. Drake, S. G. Djorgovski, M. J. Graham, A. Mahabal, and R. Williams,
California Institute of Technology; J. L. Prieto, Princeton University; M.
Catelan, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; and S. M. Larson and E.
Christensen, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, report the
discovery of an apparent supernova in unfiltered Catalina Sky Survey (CSS)
images:

 SN       2012 UT       R.A. (2000.0) Decl.      Mag.      Offset
 2012hx   Dec. 4.36    5 01 29.88  -13 43 46.4   16.5    1" E, 1" N

The variable was designated PSN J05012988-1343464 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012hx based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Additional CCD magnitudes for
2012hx (unfiltered unless otherwise noted):  Nov. 6.45 UT, [18.5 (CSS); 23.37,
17.9 (CSS); Dec. 11.038, 16.3 (Federica Luppi and Luca Buzzi, Varese, Italy;
0.38-m reflector; position end figures 29s.88, 46".3; image posted at website
URL http://www.astrogeo.va.it/pub/TOCP/PSN_J05012988-1343464.jpg); 11.364,
16.4 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; remotely uisng a 51-cm RCOS
telescope + luminance filter at the New Mexico Skies Observatory near
Mayhill; position end figures 29s.89, 46".5; image posted at website URL
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/8265371563/); 12.283, 16.5 (R. A.
Koff, Bennett, CO, USA; Meade 0.25-m f/10 reflector + Apogee U-47 camera;
limiting magnitude 19.0; position end figures 29s.88, 46".6; UCAC3 reference
stars).

     P. Ochner, A. Pastorello, L. Tomasella, S. Benetti, E. Cappellaro, and
M. Turatto, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Istituto Nazionale di
Astrofisica, report that optical spectroscopy (range 330-750 nm; resolution
0.7 nm), obtained on Dec. 11.93 UT with the Asiago 1.22-m Galileo Telescope
(+ Boller & Chivens spectrograph), shows that PSN J05012988-1343464 = SN
2012hx is a type-Ia supernova.  Adopting a redshift z about 0.028, the best
match is found with several type-Ia supernovae soon after maximum light.
The expansion velocity of the ejected material, as deduced from the position
of the Si II 635.5-nm absorption, is about 9500 km/s.  The Asiago
classification spectra are posted at website URL http://graspa.oapd.inaf.it;
classification was made via GELATO (Harutyunyan et al. 2008, A.Ap. 488, 383)
and SNID (Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024).


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

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 December 25                 (CBET 3354)              Daniel W. E. Green