2002IAUC.7973....1M

L. A. G. Monard, Bronberg Ridge (southeast of Pretoria), S. Africa, reports his discovery of an apparent supernova (mag 15.8) on three unfiltered CCD images taken with a 0.30-m reflector around Sept. 12.12 UT; additional unfiltered magnitudes from Monard: Sept. 13.12, 15.6; 14.122, 15.5; 15.108, 15.5; 16.122, 15.6; 17.118, 15.9; 18.114, 16.2. SN 2002fj is located at R.A. = 8h40m45s.10, Decl. = -4 07'38".5 (equinox 2002.0), which is 12" east and 21".5 south of the center of NGC 2642 and situated near the end of the bar and at the beginning of a spiral arm. Nothing appears at this location on an image taken by Monard in June (limiting mag 17) or on Digitized Sky Survey images. A bright foreground star is located just to the north of the new object.