Electronic Telegram No. 3240
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 2012fc IN PGC 70602 = PSN J23101271+3034426
     A. J. Drake, S. G. Djorgovski, M. J. Graham, A. Mahabal, and R. Williams,
California Institute of Technology; J. L. Prieto, Princeton University; M.
Catelan, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; and S. M. Larson and E.
Christensen, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, report the
discovery of an apparent supernova in unfiltered Catalina Sky Survey (CSS)
images:

 SN       2012 UT        R.A. (2000.0) Decl.      Mag.      Offset
 2012fc   Sep. 20.26   23 10 12.71  +30 34 42.6   17.2    18".1 E, 8".1 S

The variable was designated PSN J23101271+3034426 when it was posted at the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012fc based on the
spectroscopic confirmation reported below.  Additional CCD magnitudes for
2012fc (unfiltered unless noted otherwise):  Aug. 12.30 UT, [20.0 (CSS); Sept.
21.097, 17.4 (R. A. Koff, Bennett, CO, USA; Meade 0.25-m f/10 reflector +
Apogee U-47 camera; limiting magnitude 19.0; position end figures 12s.73,
42".6; UCAC3 reference stars); 21.316, 17.3 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns,
Australia; luminance filter; position end figures 12s.76, 42".4; image posted
at website URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/8014703626/);
21.837, 17.1 (Xavier Bros, Ager, Spain; 35-cm f/4.6 reflector; position end
figures 12s.76, 42".5; UCAC2 reference stars; image posted at website URL
http://www.anysllum.com/PSN_PGC70602.jpg); 21.872, R_c = 17.5 (Massimiliano
Martignoni, Magnago, Italy; 25-cm Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector; position end
figures 12s.78, 42".4); 21.911, 17.5 (David Grennan, Dublin, Ireland;
limiting mag 19.6; position end figures 12s.77, 42".7; image posted at URL
http://www.webtreatz.com/images/J23101271+3034426.jpg.

     D. Wright, M. Fraser, R. Kotak, and S. J. Smartt, Queens's University,
Belfast, report that a spectrum of PSN J23101271+3034426 = SN 2012fc, obtained
on Sept. 21 with the 2.5-m Nordic Optical Telescope (+ ALFOSC; grism#4; range
320-910 nm; resolution 0.8 nm) on La Palma, is consistent with a very young
type-II supernova.  The continuum is blue, with superimposed broad P-Cyg
features from H_alpha and He I.  The lines are relatively weak, and the
absorption troughs in the P-Cyg profiles are shallow, as is expected for a
type-II supernova a few days after explosion.  A fit using the "Supernova
Identification" code (SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024) gives a
match to several normal type-IIP supernovae such as 1999gi at about four days
after explosion.


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

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 September 27                (CBET 3240)              Daniel W. E. Green