Electronic Telegram No. 4199
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Mailing address:  Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
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SUPERNOVA 2015av IN ESO 285-G20 = PSN J20293645-4350277
     Stuart Parker, Canterbury, New Zealand, reports the discovery of an
apparent supernova (red mag 17.6) on a 30-s unfiltered CCD image (limiting
mag 18.5) taken by himself on Nov. 16.406 UT with a 30-cm Astro-Tech AT12RC
Ritchey-Chretien astrograph (+ ST10 camera) at his Parkdale Observatory in
the course of the Backyard Observatory Supernova Search.  The new object is
located at R.A. = 20h29m36s.45, Decl. = -43d50'27".7 (equinox J2000.0;
reference stars from USNO-B and UCAC4 catalogues), which is 13" west and 1"
north of the nucleus of the galaxy ESO 285-G20.  Nothing is visible at this
position on Digitized Sky Survey red and infrared images (limiting red mag >
19).  An image of the variable is viewable at URL http://tinyurl.com/ocko4od.
The variable was designated PSN J20293645-4350277 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2015av based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.

     H. Kuncarayakti, Millennium Institute of Astrophysics and Departamento
de Astronomia, Universidad de Chile; J. Harmanen, University of Turku and
Nordic Optical Telescope; T. Kangas and S. Mattila, University of Turku; M.
Fraser, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge; M. T. Botticella, Osservatorio
Astronomico di Capodimonte; C. Inserra, Queen's University of Belfast (QUB);
A. Gal-Yam, Weizmann Institute of Science; E. Kankare, K. Maguire, S. J.
Smartt, and K. W. Smith, QUB; M. Sullivan, University of Southampton; S.
Valenti, University of California, Davis; O. Yaron, Weizmann Institute of
Science; D. Young, QUB; and I. Manulis, Weizmann Institute of Science, report
-- on behalf of the PESSTO collaboration (cf. URL http://www.pessto.org) --
that an optical spectrogram (range 399-932 nm) of PSN J20293645-4350277 = SN
2015av, obtained on Nov. 23.03 UT with the 3.6-m New Technology Telescope (+
EFOSC2) at La Silla Observatory, shows it to be a type-Ic supernova.
Adopting a recession velocity of 6706 km/s for the host galaxy, ESO 285-G20
(Mathewson and Ford 1996, Ap.J. Suppl. 107, 97; via NED), the best fit to
the 2015av spectrum found by GELATO (Harutyunyan et al. 2008, A.Ap. 488,
383; publicly available at website URL https://gelato.tng.iac.es) is with
the spectrum of the type-Ic supernova 1990aa roughly 20 days after maximum
light.


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

                         (C) Copyright 2015 CBAT
2015 November 24                 (CBET 4199)              Daniel W. E. Green