2005IAUC.8479....3E

N. Elias-Rosa, H. Navasardyan, A. Harutunyan, S. Benetti, and M. Turatto, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova; A. Pastorello, Max- Planck-Institut; and F. Patat, European Southern Observatory, on behalf of the European RTN (IAUC 7987), report that a spectrogram of SN 2005W (cf. IAUC 8475), obtained on Feb. 2.7 UT with the Asiago 1.8-m telescope (+ AFOSC; range 355-780 nm, resolution 2.4 nm), shows it to be a type-Ia supernova about a week before maximum. The spectrum closely resembles that of SN 2002bo (Benetti et al. 2004, MNRAS 348, 261) at comparable phase. The expansion velocity deduced from the Si II 635.5-nm minimum is about 11600 km/s (adopting the NED recession velocity of 2665 km/s for NGC 691).