Electronic Telegram No. 3213
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 2012el IN NGC 5968 = PSN J15395722-3033192
     Greg Bock, Windaroo, Queensland, Australia, reports the discovery of an
apparent supernova (red mag 17.2) on a 30-s unfiltered CCD image obtained on
Aug. 18.39 UT by Stuart Parker (Oxford, Canterbury, New Zealand) with a
35-cm Celestron C14 reflector in the course of the Backyard Observatory
Supernova Search program.  The new object is located at R.A. = 15h39m57s.22,
Decl. = -30d33'19".2 (equinox 2000.0; measured by Bock), which is 0".5 east
and 8".7 south of the center of the nucleus of the galaxy NGC 5968.  Nothing
is visible at this position on Digitized Sky Survey red and infrared plates
(limiting red mag > 19).  The variable was given the preliminary designation
PSN J15395722-3033192 when it was posted at the Central Bureau's TOCP
webpage and is here designated SN 2012el based on the spectroscopic
confirmation reported below.  Additional CCD magnitudes for 2012el
(unfiltered unless noted otherwise):  Aug. 20.141, 16.4 (L. Elenin,
Lyubertsy, Russia; and I. Molotov, Moscow, Russia; remotely using a 0.45-m
f/2.8 telescope at the ISON-NM Observatory near Mayhill, NM, USA, under bad
seeing conditions; position end figures 57s.25 +/- 0".18, 18".3 +/- 0".17;
NOMAD reference stars; limiting mag about 18.3; image posted at the
following website URL:
http://spaceobs.org/images/TOCP/PSNJ15395722-3033192-20120820.png);
Aug. 23.497, 17.0 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; 41-cm RCOS
telescope + STL6K camera + infrared filter; bandpass > 700 nm; image posted
at website URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/7848112484/).

     M. Turatto, S. Benetti,  and A. Pastorello, Osservatorio Astronomico di
Padova, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica; F. Cellier-Holtzem, Laboratoire
de Physique Nucleaire et de Hautes Energies, Paris; and C. Inserra, S.
Smartt, M. Fraser, and D. Wright, Queen's University, Belfast, on behalf of
the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Large Program on supernovae (PI: S.
Benetti), report that a spectrogram of PSN J15395722-3033192 = SN 2012el,
obtained on Aug. 24.97 UT with the ESO New Technology Telescope (+ EFOSC2,
range 399-932 nm; resolution 1.8 nm) shows the typical features of a normal
type-Ia supernova.  A comparison with a library of supernovae spectra via
GELATO (Harutyuyan et al. 2008, A.Ap. 488, 383) shows close similarities of
the spectrum of 2012el to spectra of SNe 2006le, 1994D, and 1990N about one
week before maximum light.


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

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 August 28                   (CBET 3213)              Michael Rudenko