2002IAUC.7987....3B

S. Benetti, G. Altavilla, A. Pastorello, M. Riello, M. Turatto, and L. Zampieri, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova; E. Cappellaro, Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte; and L. Germany, European Southern Observatory (ESO), on behalf of the European Research and Training Network on the Physics of Type-Ia Supernovae, report that a fully reduced CCD spectrum (range 333-1000 nm, resolution 1.2 nm) of SN 2002gd, obtained on Oct. 8.02 UT with the ESO 3.6-m telescope (+ EFOSC2), shows it to be a type-II supernova caught soon after explosion. The spectrum is dominated by a very blue continuum (T_bb about 13000 K) with overimposed hydrogen Balmer and He I 587.6-nm lines showing P-Cyg profiles. From the minima of the lines, an ejecta expansion velocity of about 5000 km/s is derived. The low velocity and the low intrinsic luminosity at such early phases are reminiscent of the peculiar, low-luminosity type-II supernovae (Zampieri et al. 2002, MNRAS, in press).