Electronic Telegram No. 2973 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 2011jq NEAR MCG +01-14-15 = PSN J05164155+0629302 [Editor's note: An unknown glitch evidently prevented this text from being issued as CBET 2966 on 2011 Dec. 31, so it is being re-issued here with a new CBET number.] F. Ciabattari and E. Mazzoni, Borgo a Mozzano, Italy, report their discovery of an apparent supernova (mag 18.4) on unfiltered CCD images (limiting magnitude = 19.5) obtained on Dec. 27.89 and 29.04 UT with a 0.5-m Newtonian telescope in the course of the Italian Supernovae Search Project. The new object is located at R.A. = 5h16m41s.55, Decl. = +06d29'30".2 (equinox 2000.0; astrometry with respect to UCAC-2 stars) which is 7" south of the center of the galaxy MCG +01-14-15 = PGC 17024. Nothing is visible in their images from October to limiting mag 19.0. The variable was designated PSN J05164155+0629302 when it was posted at the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2011jq based on the spectroscopic confirmation reported below. Additional magnitudes for 2011jq, from Ciabattari unless noted otherwise: 1990 Oct. 25, [20.3 (Palomar Sky Survey, F plate); 1993 Jan. 23, [20.3 (Palomar Sky Survey, J plate); 2011 Dec. 29.207, 19.3 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; remotely using a 51-cm RCOS telescope + STL11K camera + luminance filter at the New Mexico Skies Observatory near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; position end figures 41s.55, 29".1; image posted at website URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/6596104823/). G. H. Marion, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), on behalf of the CfA Supernova Group, report that a spectrum (range 340-740 nm) of PSN J05164155+0629302 = 2011jq was obtained on Dec. 30 UT by P. Berlind 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 the object is a type-Ia supernova before maximum light. A good fit is found to the template of the 1991bg-like supernova 2005mz at 7 days before maximum. The velocities of Si II at 635.5 and 597.2 nm are 11200 and 10800 km/s, respectively, assuming a redshift of z = 0.034 that was measured from the host-galaxy emission lines. Note that this redshift differs from the value of z = 0.024 listed by NED for the proposed host galaxy, MCG +01-14-15. The R(Si II) line-depth ratio (Nugent et al. 1995, Ap.J. 455, L147) is about 0.48, which is consistent with 1991bg-like type-Ia supernovae. The most recently reported brightness (magnitude 19.3 on Dec. 29, via postings at the TOCP) is about three magnitudes below the expected brightness for a normal type-Ia supernova at maximum. NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT 2012 January 11 (CBET 2973) Daniel W. E. Green