Electronic Telegram No. 3055
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 2012ax
     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; E. C. Beshore and
S. M. Larson, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona; and
E. Christensen, Gemini Observatory, report the discovery of a supernova in
unfiltered Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) images:

 SN       2012 UT        R.A. (2000.0) Decl.      Mag.      Offset
 2012ax   Feb. 18.43   11 11 58.35  +29 42 05.5   18.4    1".1 W, 11".5 N

Further CSS magnitudes for 2012ax:  Feb. 2.29 UT, [20.2; Feb. 24.28, 18.1;
Mar. 4.20, 18.5.

     L. Tomasella, S. Valenti, A. Pastorello, S. Benetti, P. Ochner, Istituto
Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, report that a
spectrogram of 2012ax, obtained on Mar. 16.87 UT with the 1.82-m Copernico
Telescope (+ AFOSC; range 340-790 nm, resolution 2.2 nm), indicates that it is
a type-Ia supernova.  Cross-correlation with a library of supernova spectra
via the "Supernova Identification" code (SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J.
666, 1024) shows that it is similar to several normal type-Ia supernovae,
about one month after maximum.


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 March 21                    (CBET 3055)              Daniel W. E. Green