Electronic Telegram No. 3150
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 2012cy IN NGC 3462 = PSN J10552180+0741504
     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, 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 Mount Lemmon Survey (MLS).

 SN       2012 UT        R.A. (2000.0) Decl.      Mag.      Offset
 2012cy   June 14.17   10 55 21.80  + 7 41 50.4   16.8    11" E, 2" N

The variable was designated PSN J10552180+0741504 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012cy based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Further CCD magnitudes for 2012cy:
Mar. 21.26 UT, [20.5 (MLS); June 15.427, 18.4 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns,
Australia; 44-cm telescope + STL6K camera + infrared filter; bandpass > 700
nm; position end figures 21s.86, 50".6; image posted at website URL
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/7378448520/).

     G. H. Marion, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), on
behalf of the CfA Supernova Group, reports that a spectrogram (range 340-740
nm) of PSN J10552180+0741504 = 2012cy was obtained on June 16 UT by K. Rines
and S. Wilhelmy with the F. L. Whipple Observatory 1.5-m telescope (+ FAST).
Cross-correlation with a library of supernova spectra using the "Supernova
Identification" code (SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024) shows
that 2012cy is a type-Ia supernova more than two weeks after maximum
brightness.  A good fit is found to the template of the normal type-Ia
supernova 2007bm at 16 days 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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.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 June 20                     (CBET 3150)              Daniel W. E. Green