Electronic Telegram No. 3009
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 2012W IN NGC 268 = PSN J00500895-0511175
     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 and G. Garradd, 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
 2012W    Jan. 26.09   0 50 08.95  -05 11 17.5   16.6    10".0 W, 18".6 N

The variable was designated PSN J00500895-0511175 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012W based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Additional CCD magnitudes for
2012W:  2011 Nov. 28.16 UT, [19.4 (CSS); 2012 Jan. 29.093, 15.9 (Joseph
Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; luminance filter; position end figures 08s.98,
17".6; image posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/6785808279/).

     L. Tomasella, S. Benetti, A. Pastorello, S. Valenti, E. Cappellaro,
P. Ochner, and M. Turatto, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Istituto
Nazionale di Astrofisica, report that a spectrogram of PSN J00500895-0511175
= SN 2012W, obtained on Jan. 30.74 UT with the Asiago 1.82-m Copernico
Telescope (+ AFOSC; range 350-820 nm; resolution 2.4 nm), suggests that 2012W
is a type-II supernova.  The best fit to this spectrum found by GELATO
(Harutyunyan et al. 2008, A.Ap. 488, 383) indicates that 2012W is similar to
SN 2003hg (spectrum from Asiago Supernova Archive) a few days after explosion,
assuming a redshift of 0.0183 (Catinella et al. 2005, A.J. 130, 1037; via NED)
for the parent galaxy.


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 January 31                  (CBET 3009)              Daniel W. E. Green