2011CBET.2946....1M

L. A. G. Monard, Calitzdorp, Western Cape, South Africa, reports his discovery of an apparent supernova (magnitude 14.0) on unfiltered CCD taken at the Klein Karoo Observatory on Dec. 18.086 UT. The new object is located at R.A. = 13:05:11.09 ± 0s.03, Decl. = -49:31:27.1 ± 0".1 (equinox 2000.0; UCAC2 reference stars), which is 152" west and about 200" south of the core of the nearby SBcd-type galaxy NGC 4945 (note that the core of this late-type galaxy is not well-defined, which makes offset measurements difficult). Nothing is visible at this position in Digitized Sky Survey images (limiting red mag 20.5) or on earlier images taken by Monard (limiting mag 18.5 and deeper). The variable was designated PSN J13051112-4931270 when it was posted at the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2011ja based on the spectroscopic confirmation reported below. Additional CCD magnitudes reported for 2011ja: Nov. 28.091, [17.5 (Monard); Dec. 19.081, 13.9 (Monard); 20.751, 12.3 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; 41-cm telescope + STL6K camera + infrared filter; range > 700 nm; position end figures 11s.13, 26".9; image posted at URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/6546296733/).