Super Nova 2020 hvf in NGC 3643

This is an interesting one. It was discovered very early back on 21st April and is just hitting maximum light now. I took a spectrum on 27th April but could not then get a good match using the SNID classification software I usually use, possibly because it does not have many early spectra to compare with. Current spectra give a good match to type Ia now though and the brightness is bang on where it should be for a type Ia. Here is my spectrum (also in the BAA database as usual) and there is a more current spectrum here on the ARAS forum

http://www.spectro-aras.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2519

Cheers

Robin

This spectrum of type 1a supernova SN2020hvf was taken on 11 May with a LISA spectrograph (R~1100) on a C11 and has been calibrated in absolute flux using a V magnitude of V=12.67 measured concurrently with the spectrum using another scope. The spectrum has been smoothed with a Gaussian factor 2.5.
The blue-shifted location at 6118A of the prominent Si II 6355A absorption feature indicates an expansion velocity of ~11,200 km/s.
David

A tricky capture for me – very late to reach darkness at this latitude now (57°N) so object was getting low into the “murk” and skipping the treeline on my WSW horizon.  Managed to catch it as it passed through a gap in the trees and happy enough with the final result.

Eric

Beinn View Observatory, Conon Bridge, Scottish Highlands