[ngcles]

Hi Rob & All,

Yes Rob, it does seem a bit dim but there could be several reasons for this at this stage. As Brian pointed out on the AMASTRO mailing list, if it were an unobscured Type I event, we could expect it to hit mag 12.

From that, if it were a Type II event we might expect mag 14 or maybe a tad brighter at maximum light -- again assuming it is unobscured.

The fact that it is well down on this, argues either that it is still a long way from maximum light yet (and on the rise hopefully) and that it will therefore rise quite a bit in the next several days or it might be an obscured event where a fog/cloud of dust or gas in the host galaxy and between us and the supernova reduces the apparent maximum light accordingly. A possible third alternative is if it is an unusual sub-luminous event due to somehting intrinsic in the progenitor star -- possible certainly, but less likely.

No news either way yet that I know of -- we'll know in a few days I expect when someone takes an image of the spectra. I remember the M96 event (1998 bu) which was a Type I, well out in the halo and was bleedingly obvious in a 10".

M66 is at the same distance as M96 (a fraction either side of 10mpc). Assuming it is an unobscured and "normal" event we can therefore expect about mag 12 for Type I or ~14 for Type II at maximum light.


Best,

Les D