SN 2001gd

Mr. Itagaki discovered SN 2001gd on Nov. 24.820. He reported that it was mag 16.5. The existence of the new object was confirmed immediately by Ms. R. Kushida on Nov. 24.851 (bright twilight), and she reported it was mag 17.5. The next day, she also observed it and reported that it was mag 16.2 on Nov. 25.8. A. Dimai independently discovered it on Nov. 25.21 (mag 16.4). The object is about 52" west and 161" north (about 2'50" NNW) of the nucleus of the large spiral (SA(s)c) galaxy NGC 5033. This galaxy has produced SN 1985L, which was of type II-L and was mag 13.0 at maximum. If SN 2001gd is of unreddened type Ia, its expected maximum is around mag 12 (vsnet-campaign-sn 284). Reported magnitude estimates of this object showed no significant brightening betweeen November 24 - 28. (vsnet-campaign-sn 286). By the CfA team spectroscopy (IAUC 7765), this SN was turned out to be of type IIb (like SN 1993J in M 81) well past (about 2-3 months after) maximum light (vsnet-campaign-sn 288).