2010CBET.2200....2Z

W. Zheng, University of Michigan; E. Chatzopoulos, University of Texas; J. Vinko, University of Szeged; R. Quimby, California Institute of Technology; F. Yuan, D. Chamarro, M. D. Sisson, N. Whallon, C. Akerlof, and S. B. Pandey, University of Michigan; J. C. Wheeler, University of Texas; and G. H. Marion, Texas A&M University and University of Texas, on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration, report the independent discovery of 2010ai at mag about 16.9 in unfiltered images taken on Mar. 8.43 UT with the 0.45-m ROTSE-IIIb telescope at McDonald Observatory. The new object, which was observed again on Mar. 9.49 (at mag about 16.3), 10.34 (mag about 15.9), and 11.19 (mag about 15.6), is located at R.A. = 12:59:24.00, Decl. = +27:59:47.5 (equinox 2000.0; uncertainty about 1"), which is 13".8 west and 0".7 south of the center of the nearest galaxy, SDSS J125925.04+275948.2 in the Coma cluster; a finding chart for the object can be found at the following website URL: http://www.rotse.net/rsvp/j125924.0+275948/j125924.0+275948.jpg.