[vsnet-chat 740] Re: on supernova queries

[Yamaoka Hitoshi <yamaoka@rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp>]

Dear vsnet-chatters,

   Same as Dr. Kato, I also would like to express special thanks for
the world-wide colleagues who had shared the confirming process of a
suspected SN in NGC 4478. I guess that this process did _very well_ 
work. Clearly, we can made the confirm process very earlier than it
had been done by one or small persons. 

   I guess that the recommendation in IAUC 6737 is intend to keep the
credit of discovery. But, we also have to keep in mind the scientific
importance of the observation in an early epoch for novae and nearby
SNe. Especially, the suspected SN locates near the center of the Virgo
cluster, whose distance is very near and has been known very accurately. 
The appearance of SN in such places will give us the very good
opportunity to know its absolute magnitudes, to do precise
spectroscopy, and so forth. If this alarm was true, we SN reseacher
can get the earlier spectra or earlier photometric datas than the
alerm was kept in closed area. If we missed such data, we can never
recover it, and the nature of this VERY SN turns to be obscure. 
The later confirmation or observation, the less its usefullness would
be. 

   In order to get the data equal to missed one, we have to wait the 
next SN in Virgo, which would occur the next year, or the next 2
years, or unknown future. Also at next discovery, the earliest stage 
can escape our observational web. 

   In this decade, the situation has greatly changed either in
communication and in scientific interests. We have to construct the
suitable procedure to treat the discovery alert of novae and nearby
SNe in order to make the most of the rapid communication, I think.

Hitoshi Yamaoka, Kyushu Univ., Japan
yamaoka@rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp

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