Electronic Telegram No. 2963
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 2011jn IN PGC 44257 = PSN J12571479-1724005
     R. H. McNaught and G. Garradd, Australian National University; A. J.
Drake, M. J. Graham, A Mahabal, S. G. Djorgovski, 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 Siding Spring Survey (SSS) images:

 SN       2011 UT        R.A. (2000.0) Decl.      Mag.      Offset
 2011jn   Dec. 26.72   12 57 14.79  -17 24 00.5   17.0    45".8 E, 33".7 N

The variable was designated PSN J12571479-1724005 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2011jn based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Further CCD magnitudes for 2011jn
(unfiltered unless noted otherwise):  Aug. 3.40, [18.8 (SSS); Dec. 27.511,
18.6 (L. Elenin, Lyubertsy, Russia; remotely taken at ISON-NM Observatory
near Mayhill, NM, USA with 0.45-m f/2.8 telescope + KAF09000 CCD; limiting
mag about 20.5; position end figures 14s.81, 00".3, uncertainty +/- 0".1;
UCAC3 reference stars; nothing visible at this position on Palomar Sky Survey
images taken in eight different epochs; image posted at the following website
URL:  http://spaceobs.org/images/TOCP/PSNJ12571479-1724005-20111227.png);
28.201, 18.0 (Federica Luppi and Luca Buzzi, Varese, Italy; 0.38-m f/6.8
reflector; position end figures 14s.81, 00".1; reference stars from CMC-14
catalogue; image posted at http://www.astrogeo.va.it/pub/TOCP/PSN_P44257.jpg);
28.521, 17.6 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; remotely using a 51-cm
RCOS telescope + STL11K camera + luminance filter at New Mexico Skies
Observatory near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; position end figures 14s.85, 00".4;
image posted at URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/6590345943/).

     R. J. Foley and W. Fong, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,
report that they have obtained a spectrogram (range 400-1000 nm) of PSN
J12571479-1724005 = SN 2011jn on Dec. 28.4 UT with the Magellan Baade
telescope (+ IMACS), showing that 2011jn is a type-Ia supernova similar to
SN 1986G (Phillips et al. 1987, PASP 99, 592) approximately 1-3 days before
maximum light.


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 December 29                 (CBET 2963)              Daniel W. E. Green