Electronic Telegram No. 2163
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Room 209; Dept. of Earth and Planetary
 Sciences; Harvard University; 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbat@cfa.harvard.edu; dwe_green@eps.harvard.edu
URL http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html


SUPERNOVA 2010U IN NGC 4214
     G. H. Marion, Texas A&M University and University of Texas; J. Vinko,
University of Szeged; and J. C. Wheeler, University of Texas, report that a
spectrum of 2010U (cf. CBET 2161) was obtained on Feb. 7.3 UT with the 9.2-m
Hobby-Eberly Telescope (+ Marcario Low-Resolution Spectrograph) by M.
Shetrone.  The spectrum is dominated by a blue continuum with strong, narrow
P-Cyg emission features of H I, Ca II, Na I, and possibly O I.  The spectrum
shows strong resemblance to those of luminous blue variable (LBV) outbursts
("supernova impostors"; e.g., Van Dyk et al. 2000, PASP 112, 1532; Smith et
al. 2009, Ap.J. 697, L49).  The absolute magnitude of the transient (using
the host-galaxy distance of 3.3 Mpc from NED) is -11.7, which is typical for
such events.  The expansion velocity, calculated from the minimum of the
narrow P-Cyg features, is about 900 km/s, which also supports the
classification.


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2010 CBAT
2010 February 7                  (CBET 2163)              Daniel W. E. Green