SIMBAD references

P. Garnavich, University of Notre Dame; and E. Bass, Cornell University, report that the position of SN 2003gd was included on R-band images taken with the Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-NOAO telescope (WIYN + MiniMosaic Camera) on 2003 Jan. 29.1 UT, while observing SN 2002ap (total exposure time 900 s; 1".0 seeing). Using the accurate astrometry of McNaught (IAUC 8152) and comparing with the Hubble Space Telescope archival images (Smartt et al., IAUC 8152), the WIYN images place a limit of R > 24 on the progenitor brightness at four months before discovery. This observation, combined with spectral-age estimates by Kotak et al. and Phillips, constrains the likely date of explosion to between February and April.