Astron. Astrophys. 324, L29-L32 (1997)

Letter to the Editor

The luminous 'Seyfert 1' type II Supernova 1997ab ^*

H.-J. Hagen , D. Engels and D. Reimers

Hamburger Sternwarte, Gojenbergsweg 112, D-21029 Hamburg, Germany

Received 3 April 1997 / Accepted 13 May 1997

Abstract

We report the discovery of SN 1997ab, a supernova with a Seyfert 1 type spectrum similar to SN 1987F. SN 1997ab was first seen at B=14.7 0.5 on a digitized objective prism spectrum taken on April 11, 1996 for the Hamburg Quasar Survey with the Calar Alto 80cm Schmidt telescope and was automatically selected as a low redshift QSO candidate. Spectra and images taken with CAFOS at the 2.2m telescope on Calar Alto on Feb. 28 and March 2, 1997 show the SN at B=16.2 with strong Balmer lines, broad Fe ii emission bumps at =5250 Å and 4580 Å, a strong IR Ca ii triplet and the HeI 7065 Å and 5876 Å lines. The SN is located southwest off the center of the faint (B 17.7) dwarf irregular HS 0948+2018. According to sharp H ii region type [O iii], [N ii], [S ii] lines and sharp Balmer line components, the radial velocity of the parent galaxy is 3750 km s^-1. This yields a brightness on April 11, 1996 of (for H km s^-1 Mpc^-1) and of on March 2, 1997. With its high luminosity and slow fading SN 1997ab is similar to SN 1988Z and SN 1987F. SN 1997ab can be expected to be observable for several years.

Key words: Supernovae: general Supernovae: individual: SN 1997ab

* Based on observations from the German-Spanish Astronomical Center, Calar Alto, operated by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg, jointly with the Spanish National Commission for Astronomy

Send offprint requests to: H.-J. Hagen,
e-mail: hhagen@hs.uni-hamburg.de

SIMBAD Objects

Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Observations
  • 2.1. Discovery
  • 2.2. Optical spectroscopy and imaging
• 3. Analysis
  • 3.1. Pre-SN light curve
  • 3.2. Spectroscopic properties
  • 3.3. Light curve
• 4. Epilogue
• Acknowledgements
• References

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 1997

Online publication: May 26, 1998

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