2011CBET.2661....2A

J. Anderson and F. Forster, Universidad de Chile; G. Pignata, Universidad Andres Bello; and G. Folatelli, University of Tokyo, on behalf of the Millennium Center for Supernova Science, report that they have obtained a spectrum (range 420-900 nm) of PSN J05535077-3244442 = SN 2011ah on Feb. 17.1 UT with the Magellan Baade 6.5-m telescope (+ IMACS) at Las Campanas Observatory. The spectrum indicates that 2011ah is a type-Ia supernova around a week after maximum; comparison with template spectra using the "Supernova Identification" code (SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024) provides a close match to that of SN 1996C at eight days after maximum light. Adopting a host-galaxy recession velocity of 8094 km/s (Jones et al. 2009, 6DF Galaxy Survey Data Release 3) as reported via the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, an expansion velocity of 12000 km/s is calculated from the absorption minimum of the Si II 635.5-nm line.