Electronic Telegram No. 2979 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 2012C IN NGC 2926 = PSN J09373048+3250315 D. Rich, Hampden, ME, U.S.A, reports his discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 16.8) on unfiltered CCD frames (limiting mag 18.8) taken with a 0.41-m reflector on Jan. 4.177 UT. The new object is located at R.A. = 9h37m30s.48, Decl. = +32o50'31".5 (equinox 2000.0) which is about 6".5 west and 2".5 north of the center of NGC 2926. The variable was designated PSN J09373048+3250315 when it was posted at the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012C based on the spectroscopic confirmation reported below. Additional magnitudes for 2012C (from unfiltered CCD images unless noted otherwise): 1996 Mar. 18, [21.0 (Digital Sky Survey image, blue plate; via Rich); 1998 Apr. 16, 20.5 (Palomar DSS image, red plate; via Rich); 2011 Mar. 25.136, [19.0 (Rich); 2012 Jan. 6.178, 16.7 (Rich); 6.213, 15.6 (L. Elenin, Lyubertsy, Russia; three co-added 300-s images obtained remotely at the ISON-NM Observatory near Mayhill, NM, USA, with a 0.45-m f/2.8 telescope + KAF09000 CCD; limiting mag about 19.8; position end figures 30s.64, 31".6, estimated uncertainty +/- 0".1; UCAC3 reference stars); 6.532, 17.5 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; remotely using a 51-cm RCOS telescope + STL11K camera + luminance filter at the New Mexico Skies Observatory near Mayhill; four stacked 10-min exposures; position end figures 30s.45, 32".5; image posted at website URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/6650598249/); 6.633, 15.6 (Brimacombe; 41-cm RCOS telescope + STL6K camera + infrared filter, range > 700 nm; eleven 10-min stacked images; position end figures 30s.43, 32".3; image at http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/6717903451/); 9.047, 17.4 (Federica Luppi and Luca Buzzi, Varese, Italy, 0.38-m f/6.8 reflector; position end figures 30s.49, 31".6; reference stars from CMC-14 catalogue; image posted at http://www.astrogeo.va.it/pub/TOCP/PSN_N2926.jpg). L. Magill, R. Kotak, and D. Wright, Queen's University, Belfast, report that optical spectra (320-990 nm) of PSN J09373048+3250315 = SN 2012C were obtained at the Isaac Newton Telescope (+ IDS) on Jan. 16.121 UT. The spectra were cross-correlated with a library of supernova spectra using the Supernova Identification tool (SNID; Blondin and Tonry, 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024), showing that 2012C is best matched with the type-Ic supernova 1997ei at maximum light. NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT 2012 January 18 (CBET 2979) Daniel W. E. Green