Electronic Telegram No. 2688
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 2011bf = PSN J13490323-2803596
     G. Pignata and M. Cifuentes, Universidad Andres Bello; J. Maza, M. Hamuy,
R. Antezana, L. Gonzalez, R. Cartier, F. Forster, S. Silva, F. Carrasco, P.
Sanchez, and C. Hervias, Universidad de Chile; C. Farias, Pontificia
Universidad Catolica de Chile; B. Conul, Wesleyan University; G. Folatelli,
IPMU, University of Tokyo; and D. Reichart, K. Ivarsen, J. Haislip, A. Crain,
D. Foster, M. Nysewander, and A. LaCluyze, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, on behalf of the CHASE project (which is part of the Millennium
Center for Supernova Science collaboration) report the discovery of an
apparent supernova (mag approximately 16.7) on an unfiltered image taken on
Mar. 24.26 UT with the 0.41-m 'PROMPT 5' telescope located at Cerro Tololo.
CTIO.  The new object, which is also present at mag approximately 16.9 in an
image taken on Mar. 25.11, is located at R.A. = 13h49m03s.23 +/- 0".2, Decl.
= -28o03'59".6 +/- 0.2 (equinox 2000.0), which is about 7".7 west and 44".1
north of center of the presumed host galaxy.  Nothing is visible at this
position on archival images taken on Jan. 15.29 and Feb. 17.30 (limiting mag
18.5).  The variable was designated PSN J13490323-2803596 when posted on the
Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is designated SN 2011bf here based on the
spectroscopic report below.

     G. H. Marion, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), on
behalf of the CfA Supernova Group, reports that a spectrum (range 340-740 nm)
of PSN J13490323-2803596 = SN 2011bf was obtained on Apr. 3 UT by Marion with
the F. L. Whipple Observatory 1.5-m telescope (+ FAST).  Cross-correlation
with a library of supernova spectra using the "Supernova Identification" code
(SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024) shows that 2011bf is a
type-Ia supernova a few days before maximum light.  Using the SNID redshift
of z = 0.014, the velocity of the Si II 635.5-nm feature is estimated to be
approximately 12300 km/s.


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      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 April 10                    (CBET 2688)              Daniel W. E. Green