1997A&A...324L..29H

We report the discovery of SN1997ab, a supernova with a Seyfert 1 type spectrum similar to SN1987F. SN1997ab 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 FeII emission bumps at {last_=5250Å and 4580Å, a strong IR CaII triplet and the HeI 7065Å and 5876Å lines. The SN is located 3."7 southwest off the center of the faint (B≃17.7) dwarf irregular HS0948+2018. According to sharp HII region type [OIII], [NII], [SII] lines and sharp Balmer line components, the radial velocity of the parent galaxy is 3750km/s. This yields a brightness on April 11, 1996 of M_B=-19.1 (for H₀=65km/s/Mpc) and of M_B=-17.6 on March 2, 1997. With its high luminosity and slow fading SN1997ab is similar to SN1988Z and SN1987F. SN1997ab can be expected to be observable for several years.