2012CBET.3241....1B

Greg Bock, Windaroo, Queensland, Australia, reports his discovery of an apparent supernova (mag 15.2) on a 30-s unfiltered CCD image taken on Sept. 22.67 UT by Stuart Parker (Oxford, Canterbury, New Zealand) with a 35-cm Celestron C14 reflector (+ ST10 camera) as part of their Backyard Observatory Supernova Search (BOSS); confirming images were taken by both Stuart and Bock on Sept. 27. The new object is located at R.A. = 5:58:51.93, Decl. = -23:20:24.2 (equinox 2000.0), which is 6".3 west and 2".1 south of the nucleus of the galaxy ESO 488-G51. Nothing is visible at this position on Digitized Sky Survey red and infrared images (limiting red mag > 19). The variable was designated PSN J05585193-2320242 when it was posted at the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here designated SN 2012fd based on the spectroscopic confirmation reported below.