Circular No. 7953
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


SUPERNOVA 2002ek
     W. M. Wood-Vasey, G. Aldering, P. Nugent, and R. Rudas,
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, report the discovery of an
apparent supernova (mag 19.2) on three unfiltered NEAT images taken
with the 1.2-m Palomar Schmidt telescope (cf. SN 2002cx, IAUC 7902)
on July 22.31, 22.33, and 22.37 UT.  The new object is
located at R.A. = 20h32m08s.50, Decl. = -15o17'57".9 (equinox
2000.0), which is 4" west and 6" south of the center of the
apparent host galaxy.  SN 2002ek was confirmed on images taken on
Aug. 6.27, 6.29, 6.32, 7.31, 7.33, and 7.36 at the same telescope,
at mag 19.5 on both nights.  No point source is visible at this
location in previous images taken on during May 19-July 13
(limiting mag 21).


SUPERNOVA 2002el IN NGC 6986
     B. Beutler and W. D. Li, University of California at Berkeley
(UCB), report the LOTOSS (cf. IAUC 7906) discovery of an apparent
supernova on unfiltered KAIT images taken on Aug. 12.3 (mag about
17.6) and 13.3 UT (mag about 17.3).  SN 2002el is located at R.A. =
20h56m30s.09, Decl. = -18o33'34".3 (equinox 2000.0), which is 8".1
west and 24".8 north of the nucleus of NGC 6986.  A KAIT image
taken on Aug. 5.3 showed nothing at this position (limiting mag
about 18.5).


SUPERNOVAE 2002dr, 2002dx, 2002ea, 2002eb, 2002ee, 2002eh
     A. V. Filippenko, R. J. Foley, M. Papenkova, and B. Swift,
UCB, communicate that inspection of CCD spectra (range 310-1000
nm), obtained on Aug. 9 UT with the Shane 3-m reflector at Lick
Observatory, leads to the following spectral classifications of
recent supernovae.  SN 2002dr (IAUC 7927) is of type Ia, about 0.5
year past maximum brightness, but the spectrum is noisy and heavily
contaminated by light from the host galaxy.  SN 2002dx (IAUC 7933)
is also of type Ia, perhaps 2 months past maximum brightness;
again, the spectrum is noisy and contaminated.  SN 2002ea (IAUC
7936) is of type IIn, but with some low-velocity H-alpha absorption
present.  SN 2002eb (IAUC 7937) is of type Ia, close to maximum
brightness.  SN 2002eh (IAUC 7947) is also of type Ia, about 1
month past maximum brightness.  A spectrogram taken as above on
Aug. 10 reveals that SN 2002ee (IAUC 7941) is a young type-II
supernova, probably of the II-P variety.  The continuum is quite
blue, and well-developed P-Cyg profiles are visible, especially in
the case of H-alpha.

                      (C) Copyright 2002 CBAT
2002 August 13                 (7953)            Daniel W. E. Green