Electronic Telegram No. 3094
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 2012bx = PSN 11442941+0703463
     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 an apparent supernova
in unfiltered Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) images:

 SN       2012 UT        R.A. (2000.0) Decl.      Mag.      Offset
 2012bx   Apr. 11.24   11 44 29.41  + 7 03 46.3   17.1    16".5 W, 8".8 N

The variable was designated PSN J11442941+0703463 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012bx based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Further CCD magnitudes for 2012bx
(unfiltered unless noted otherwise):  Mar. 17.31 UT, [21.5 (CSS); Apr. 14.040,
17.2 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; remotely using a 51-cm RCOS
telescope + STL11K camera + luminance filter at the New Mexico Skies
Observatory near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; position end figures 29s.42, 46".4;
image posted at URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/6936349786/);
15.838, 16.8 (Nick James, Chelmsford, Essex, England; Celestron 11 telescope
+ ST9XE camera; position end figures 29s.39, 46".5); 16.343, 17.2 (Brimacombe;
position end figures 29s.41, 46".1); 18.26, 17.3 (CSS); 21.023, 17.6 (F.
Luppi and Luca Buzzi, Varese, Italy; 0.38-m f/6.8 reflector; position end
figures 29s.42, 46".7; reference stars from CMC-14 catalogue; image posted at
URL http://www.astrogeo.va.it/pub/TOCP/PSN_J11442941+0703463.jpg).
Brimacombe's Apr. 16 image is posted at the following website URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/7085286249/.

     L. Tomasella, S. Benetti, E. Cappellaro, P. Ochner, A. Pastorello, M.
Turatto, and S. Valenti, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Istituto
Nazionale di Astrofisica, report that a spectrogram of PSN 11442941+0703463 =
2012bx,  obtained on Apr. 24.99 UT with the Asiago 1.82-m Copernico Telescope
(+ AFOSC; range 340-820 nm; resolution 2.4 nm), indicates that this 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 2012bx is similar to SN 1995D (Sadakane et al. 1996, PASJ 48,
51) at 11 days after maximum at a redshift z = 0.049.  The redshift is fully
consistent with the redshift of the host galaxy, SDSS J114430.51+070337.6
(z = 0.0508, Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5, as obtained from
website URL http://www.sdss.org/dr5/products/catalogs/index.html).


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 April 26                    (CBET 3094)              Daniel W. E. Green