2012CBET.2976....2P

A. Pastorello, E. Cappellaro, and S. Benetti, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova; and A. Harutunyan, Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, report that an optical spectrum (range 350-800 nm; resolution 1 nm) of PSN J12355230+2755559 was obtained at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (+ LRS) on Jan. 14.1 UT; the weather conditions were not optimal. The noisy spectrum shows a relatively blue continuum dominated by narrow emissions of the H Balmer series with a FWHM of about 1000 km/s and centered at a redshift of about 800 km/s. The spectrum is very similar to that of the "supernova impostor" 2009ip (Smith et al. 2010, A.J. 139, 1451), and therefore it is most likely the outcome of the eruption of a luminous blue variable (LBV).