2004IAUC.8446....1Q

R. Quimby, C. Gerardy, P. Hoeflich, and J. C. Wheeler, University of Texas, report the discovery, in unfiltered CCD images taken on Nov. 25.5 and 26.5 UT with the McDonald Observatory 0.45-m ROTSE-IIIb telescope (software via the Supernova Cosmology Project and the 'Nearby Supernova Factory'), of a supernova (mag about 13.3), designated 2004gk, located at R.A. = 12h25m33s.21, Decl. = +12o15'39".9 (equinox 2000.0), which is 1".5 east (not west, as on CBET 99) and 2".7 north of the center of IC 3311. ROTSE-IIIb images from June 12.17 (limiting mag about 17.9) showed nothing at this position. Gerardy et al. add that an optical spectrogram (500-1000 nm), obtained on Nov. 27.52 with the 9.2-m Hobby/Eberly telescope (+ Marcario Low-Resolution Spectrograph) by M. Shetrone and V. Riley, suggests that the supernova is of type Ic; the spectrum roughly resembles that of SN 1994I near maximum light (e.g., Clocchiatti et al. 1996, Ap.J. 462, 462). Additional unfiltered CCD magnitudes: Nov. 27.46, 13.6 (J. McGaha, Tucson, AZ; position end figures 33s.25, 40".4; object not visible on Palomar Sky Survey photographs); 27.744, 13.7 (K. Kadota, Ageo, Japan, 0.25-cm f/7.0 reflector; communicated via S. Nakano; position end figures 33s.23, 40".1).