Electronic Telegram No. 2981 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 2012E IN NGC 975 = PSN J02332279+0935056 L. Cox, J. Newton, and T. Puckett report the discovery of an apparent supernova (mag 16.5) on an unfiltered CCD image (limiting mag 18.7) taken with a 0.40-m reflector at Portal, AZ, U.S.A., on Jan. 14.142 UT in the course of the Puckett Observatory Supernova Search. The new object, which was confirmed at mag 16.5 on Jan. 15.132 by Puckett with the 40-cm reflector at Portal, is located at R.A. = 2h33m22s.79, Decl. = +09o35'05".6 (equinox 2000.0), which is 1".0 east and 60".5 south of the center of NGC 975. Nothing is visible at this position on images taken by Puckett on 2011 Dec. 28 (limiting mag 19.0). The variable was designated PSN J02332279+0935056 when it was posted at the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012E based on the spectroscopic confirmation reported below. The discoverers have posted an image of 2012E at website URL http://www.possdata.com/PSNJ02332279+0935056.jpg. Additional CCD magnitudes for 2012E (unfiltered unless noted otherwise): Jan. 16.766, 16.4 (Paolo Corelli, Pagnacco, Italy; 0.45-m f/4.5 telescope; limiting mag 19.0; position end figures 22s.81, 05".9; nothing visible at this position on a red Palomar Sky Survey plate to limiting mag 21.0); 16.768, R = 15.5 +/- 0.1 (K. Sarneczky, Konkoly Observatory, Hungary; 1.02-m RCC Telescope; position end figures 22s.80, 06".1; USNO-B1.0 reference stars); 16.836, 16.2 (Federica Luppi and Luca Buzzi Varese, Italy; 0.38-m f/6.8 reflector; position end figures 22s.82, 05".9; reference stars from CMC-14 catalogue; image posted at http://www.astrogeo.va.it/pub/TOCP/PSN_N975.jpg). L. Tomasella, E. Cappellaro, P. Ochner, S. Benetti, A. Pastorello, and S. Valenti, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, report that a spectrum (range 360-810 nm; resolution 2.2 nm) of PSN J02332279+0935056 = SN 2012E was obtained on Jan. 17.83 UT with the Ekar-Copernico 1.82-m telescope (+ AFOSC). Using a library of supernova spectra via GELATO (Harutyunyan et al. 2008, A.Ap. 488, 383; available at URL https://gelato.tng.iac.es/login.cgi), they found a best fit with a normal type-Ia supernova few days before maximum. Allowing for a galaxy redshift z = 0.02 (de Vaucouleurs et al. 1991, RC3 catalogue; via NED), the expansion velocity measured from the deep Si feature is 12500 km/s. NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT 2012 January 19 (CBET 2981) Daniel W. E. Green