Supernova SN 2013df in NGC 4414: spectrum (4 July 2013)
At Virtual Telescope we observed supernova SN 2013df last 8 June 2013. At the discovery time, while it was still waiting for a spectroscopic confirmation, we tried to grab one of them, but the resulting spectrum was basically featureless. Professional, Hi-res spectra provided a classification, showing it was a type II supernova, with its typical features not so evident.
About one month later, we managed to slew our Celestron C14 robotic unit to this star, trying to secure new spectra, to see if meanwhile the object developed more evident features. Seven, 300-seconds exposures were taken, using a SA100 diffraction grating; then the frames were averaged and processed using the RSpec software created by Tom Field.
The plot above shows the results: here, the Ha emission was firmly recorded, showing this is a type II supernova, likely a peculiar type IIb (because of its initial spectrum, with not obvious features).
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