2003IAUC.8042....3F

A. V. Filippenko and R. Chornock, University of California, Berkeley, write: "Inspection of CCD spectra (range 310-1000 nm) obtained on Jan. 6 UT with the Keck I 10-m telescope (+ LRIS) shows that SN 2003B is of type II, a few weeks past the explosion. H-alpha exhibits a well-developed P-Cyg profile, with an absorption minimum corresponding to an expansion velocity of 7000 km/s (assuming the NED redshift of NGC 1097, 1275 km/s). The expansion velocity measured from H-beta is 5600 km/s. Many Fe II and other absorption lines are also visible. From our data, it is not possible to determine whether the supernova is in NGC 1097 or 1097A, whose redshifts are nearly identical."