SUPERNOVA 2014J IN M82
Stephen J. Fossey, University of London Observatory (ULO), reports the
discovery of an apparent supernova (magnitude R = 10.5) in Messier 82 on CCD
images obtained by himself (and assisted by students B. Cooke, G. Pollack,
M. Wilde, and T. Wright) with a ULO 35-cm Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at
Mill Hill, London, on 2014 Jan. 21.80UT. It is located at:
RA 9h 55m 42.14s DEC +69 40' 26.0" (2000), 54" west and 21" south of the
galaxy's centre. A pre-discovery image taken by Marco Verstraaten (Twisk,
The Netherlands; 30-cm reflector) on Jan. 18.977 UT has been posted at
website URL http://www.astropage.nl/nova/PSN_J095542...0_astropage.jpg

Additional CCD magnitudes: K. Itagaki, Japan; 0.50-m reflector; host-galaxy
light extracted using previous images; measured by H. Kaneda, Sapporo,
Japan; 14.559, [17.0 (Itagaki); 15.571, 14.4 (Itagaki; pre-discovery image);
16.641, 13.9 (Itagaki; pre-discovery image); 17.612, 13.3 (Itagaki;
pre-discovery image); 19.618, 12.2 (Itagaki; pre- discovery image); 20.620,
11.9 (Itagaki; pre-discovery image); 21.818, V = 11.7 (Fossey); 22.150, B =
12.96, V = 11.68, R_c = 11.04, I_c = 10.63 (S.
Kiyota, Kamagaya, Japan; remotely with an iTelescope 0.43-m astrograph +
FLI-PL6303E camera near Mayhill, NM, USA; 22.3, R = 11.0 (Ernesto Guido et.
al.,; iTelescope 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph near Mayhill; position end figures
42s.17, 25".9

G. Dhungana, Southern Methodist University; J. M. Silverman, University of
Texas at Austin; J. Vinko, University of Szeged; J. C. Wheeler and G. H.
Marion University of Texas at Austin; and R. Kehoe and F. V. Ferrante,
Southern Methodist University, on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration, report
the pre-discovery detection of PSN J09554214+6940260 = SN 2014J in
unfiltered images taken with the 0.45-m ROTSE-IIIb telescope located at
McDonald Observatory. Available magnitudes: Jan. 7.340 UT, [14.6; 15.378,
13.5; 17.300, 12.4. They add that, given the brightness of the host galaxy
(M82) and the complexity of the field, there is likely some host-galaxy
light included in these reported magnitudes due to subtraction artifacts.

Y. Cao, California Institute of Technology; M. M. Kasliwal, Carnegie
Institution and Princeton University; A. McKay, University of Texas at
Austin; and A. Bradley, Apache Point Observatory, on behalf of the
"intermediate Palomar Transient Factory" (iPTF) Collaboration, report that a
spectrogram of SN 2014J, obtained on Jan. 22.305 UT with the Dual Imaging
Spectrograph on the ARC 3.5-m telescope, indicates that it is a type-Ia
supernova with a Si II velocity of 20000 km/s. The best superfit match (cf.
website URL http://www.dahowell.com/superfit.html)
is to SN 2002bo at -14 days. SN 2014J has a red continuum and deep Na D
absorption.