------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1497 2000 Feb 15 07.39UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074 INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.demon.co.uk/astronomer ------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPERNOVA 2000H IN IC 454 The supernova candidate found by Mark Armstrong has now been confirmed (cf E1495): P. Garnavich, University of Notre Dame; and P. Challis, S. Jha, and R. Kirshner, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, report that a spectrum of SN 2000H was obtained by K. Rines on Feb. 9.2 UT with the F. L. Whipple Observatory 1.5-m telescope, showing it to be a type-Ia supernova. The characteristic Si II 615-nm absorption is present, but with a pronounced asymmetric profile, being very steep on the red side of the line. Assuming a recession velocity of 4170 km/s, based on the narrow emission from the host galaxy, the photospheric velocity from the Si II absorption minimum is only -4100 km/s. The 580-nm feature is deep relative to the Si II, which suggests that this is a subluminous, fast-declining event. The peak observed magnitude of 17 (IAUC 7361) also suggests a very low luminosity for a type-Ia event. IAUC 7366 (extract) Guy M Hurst