Circular No. 7288

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) BMARSDEN@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or DGREEN@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science) URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)

SUPERNOVA 1999el in NGC 6951

L. Cao, Y. L. Qiu, Q. Y. Qiao, and J. Y. Hu, Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO), on behalf of the BAO Supernova Survey, report the discovery of an apparent supernova (mag about 15.4) in NGC 6951 on an unfiltered CCD frame taken on Oct. 20.45 UT with a 0.60-m telescope at Xinglong station; an image taken on Oct. 21.44 yields mag about 15.0 (there is a knot at the location of SN 1999el on the Digital Sky Survey image and on previous BAO images, and the magnitude estimates include the brightness of the supernova and the knot). SN 1999el is located at R.A. = 20h37m17s.83, Decl. = +66o06'11".5 (equinox 2000.0), which is 21".8 east and 8".4 south of the nucleus of NGC 6951. Nothing appears on images taken on Oct. 19.2 by KAIT to limiting mag 18.0 (according to W. Li, University of California at Berkeley) or on Oct. 19.44 at BAO. Li adds that on Oct. 22.2, SN 1999el appeared at mag 15.2 on a KAIT image, and they find the supernova to be 21".7 east and 8".6 south of the galaxy nucleus. A KAIT image taken on 1998 Sept. 13 (limiting mag about 20.5), shows two nearby foreground stars: one (mag about 17.3) located about 23".9 east and 8".4 south of the nucleus, and another (mag about 18.6) located about 19".4 east and 8".8 south of the nucleus. A. Filippenko (Berkeley) has identified a BAO spectrum of SN 1999el as that of a very early type-IIn supernova.

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