Supernova 2009ev

SN 2009ev was the fifteenth supernova discovered by BRASS. This SN was found on 2009 May 27.07 UT in galaxy NGC 5026, located at RA 13h14m14.1s, Dec -42 d57m40s (2000.0), through images obtained at the CEAMIG-REA Observatory at Belo Horizonte, Brasil. Confirmation came through CBET 1814, dated May 28, 2009.

NGC 5026 in Centaurus is probably a barred spiral of morphological class SB(r)0, according to NED (NASA Extragalactic Database), although some references classify this galaxy as lenticular. Its apparent size is 3.2 x 2.0 arcmin. Its recession velocity and redshift are estimated respectively as (3549 +/- 33) km/s e (0.011838 +/- 0.000110), also from NED.This means a distance around 50.7 megaparsec (some 165 million light-years), if we assume a Hubble constant of 70 km/s.Mpc. Given that distance, our apparent magnitude estimate (14.6) at discovery would mean an absolute magnitude of roughly –19, which led us to the belief that this could be a Type Ia SN not far from maximum. Subsequently, spectra taken on May 31.20 by N. Morrell (Carnegie Supernova Project), with the du Pont 2.5-m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory confirmed that this was actually a type-Ia supernova around maximum brightness.

Astrometric position of SN 2009ev is RA 13h14m17s.58, Dec -42d58'48".8 (2000.0).