[AstroNet] Professional/Amateur Collaboration

[Case Rijsdijk]

Dear All,

This may be of interest.

Kind regards

Case

Berto Monard, now living near Calitzdorp and running the Klein Karoo
Observatory, is well known for his discovery of supernovae. However recently
it has become necessary to have spectroscopic confirmation of these
discoveries as well. Through a combined effort of the ASSA and the SAAO,
Berto is now in contact with Rob Fesen (Dartmouth college SALT partner) who
has a target of opportunity programme to observe prospective supernovae with
SALT. This is an excellent an example professional astronomers working with
amateur astronomers.


                                           Electronic Telegram No. 2737
 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 at eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat at iau.org)
 URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
 Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


 SUPERNOVA 2011di IN IC 4754 = PSN J18435900-6159460
      L. A. G. Monard, Pretoria, South Africa, reports his discovery of an
 apparent supernova (mag 17.5) on several unfiltered CCD images obtained on
 May 13.005 UT at the Klein Karoo Observatory.  The new object, which was
 designated PSN J18435900-6159460 when posted on the Central Bureau's TOCP
 webpage and is here designated SN 2011di based on the spectroscopic report
 below, is located at R.A. = 18h43m59s.06, Decl. = -61d59'46".3, which is 9"
 west and 21" south of the core of the SBb-type galaxy IC 4754; Monard notes
 that a faint star just south of the galaxy's core must somewhat affect the
 accuracy of the derived position.  Nothing is visible at this position on
 Digitized Sky Survey images (limiting red mag 20.5) or on 2010 images taken
 at Monard's Bronberg Observatory (limiting mag 18.5 and fainter).
Additional
 magnitudes for 2011di:  2011 Apr. 30.102, [18.8 (Monard); May 14.894, 16.5
 (Monard); 15.134, 16.5 (Monard); 15.875, 16.2 (Monard); 17.880, 15.7
 (Monard); 22.740, 14.8 (Joseph Brimacombe, Coral Towers Observatory,
Cairns,
 Australia, 30-cm telescope + STL6K camera + red filter; position end
figures
 59s.12, 45".7); 23.725, 14.7 (Brimacombe); 24.658, 14.7 (Brimacombe);
25.756,
 14.7 (Brimacombe).  Brimacombe's May 22 image is posted at the following
 website URL:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/5748796850/.

      D. Milisavljevic and R. Fesen, Dartmouth College; K. Nordsieck,
University
 of Wisconsin; and T. Pickering and D. O'Donoghue, South African
Astronomical
 Observatory, on behalf of a larger SALT Commissioning Team, report that
low-
 dispersion spectra (range 350-750 nm), obtained May 28 UT with the 10-m
SALT
 telescope (+ RSS), show PSN J18435900-6159460 = SN 2011di to be a type-Ia
 supernova.  Cross-correlation with a library of supernova spectra using the
 "Supernova Identification" code (SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666,
 1024) shows matches with normal type-Ia events at less than one week after