SIMBAD references

S. Benetti, A. Harutyunyan, and I. Agnoletto, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova; S. Valenti and A. Pastorello, Queen's University, Belfast; and V. Lorenzi, Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), report that a spectrum of 2008fz (cf. CBET 1524), obtained on Oct. 9.16 UT with the 3.5-m TNG (+ DOLORES; range 350-930 nm, resolution 1.3 nm), is dominated by a blue continuum, overimposed by Balmer lines in emission with composite profiles. The profiles consist of a broad component (FWHM about 3800 km/s) and a narrow (FWHM about 600 km/s) one. In H_alpha, an even broader component (about 8000 km/s) may be also visible. The best fit to this spectrum found via GELATO (Harutyunyan et al. 2008, A.Ap. 488, 383) is with that of the type-IIn supernovae 1990S (Asiago Supernova Archive) and 2005gj (Prieto et al. 2007, http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/0706.4088). The redshift, as derived from the narrow peaks of the Balmer lines, is about 0.133. Adopting this redshift and an R-band magnitude (synthesized from the spectrum) of about 16.8, leads to a derived absolute magnitude of about -22.1 for 2008fz (classified as a type-Ic supernova on CBET 1524), one of the brightest ever observed. The spectral appearance and the very high luminosity suggest that the supernova ejecta have impacted onto external dense clumps of material, similar to the model suggested for SN 2006gy by Smith and McCray (2007, Ap.J. 671, 17) and by Agnoletto et al. (2008, Ap.J., in press; see also website URL http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/0810.0635).