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G. Miknaitis, A. Rest, C. Stubbs (University of Washington), C. Stoughton (Fermilab), SDSS Collaboration
During the several months of the year that the northern galactic hemisphere is inaccessible, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) repeatedly scans several regions of sky in the south, totaling roughly 100 square degrees. Over the five year course of the survey, such multi-epoch imaging will present an excellent opportunity to detect and study variability over a variety of time-scales, and, in particular, low-redshift supernovae. We present supernovae detected via frame subtraction this past fall during the first pass of the Southern survey. New images are matched to archival "template" images of each field, aligned to sub-pixel accuracy, convolved to account for differences in seeing and then subtracted. This procedure in effect "deblends" supernovae from their host galaxy's light by removing it entirely. The combination of frequent (3-5 days) observations of each field plus the simultaneous five color imaging provided by the SDSS camera will allow us to produce high quality light curves of these events. We will also be able to obtain multi-color imformation on the events well before maximum light, a stage in their evolution for which data have previously been difficult to obtain. In the case of type Ia SNe, characterising the behavior of these events at all stages in their evolution and determining their properties as an ensemble is important for evaluating the cosmology results obtained using their high-redshift counterparts.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: gm@astro.washington.edu