2008CBET.1438....1H

A. Harutyunyan and S. Benetti, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova; A. Fiorenzano, Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG); and V. Stanishev, Multidisciplinary Centre for Astrophysics, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, report that a spectrum of 2008ec (cf. CBET 1437), obtained on July 16.08 UT with the 3.5-m TNG (+ DOLORES; range 350-778 nm, resolution 1.9 nm), shows it to be a type-Ia supernova a few days before maximum light. The best fit to this spectrum found by GELATO (Harutyunyan et al. 2008, http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/0804.1939) is with a spectrum of SN 1992A (cf. IAUC 5428, 5429, 5430, 5431, 5432) at five days before maximum. Adopting a recession velocity of 4892 km/s for the host galaxy (Keel 1996, Ap.J. Suppl. 106, 27; via NED), the expansion velocity deduced from the Si II 635.5-nm absorption is about 12600 km/s.