Supernova 2008A in NGC 634

S. Blondin, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), on behalf of the CfA Supernova Group, reports that a spectrogram (range 350-740 nm) of 2008A (cf. CBET 1193), obtained by P. Berlind on Jan. 5.08 UT with the F. L. Whipple Observatory 1.5-m telescope (+ FAST), shows it to be a peculiar type-Ia supernova around one week before maximum light. Cross-correlation with a library of supernova spectra using the "Supernova Identification" code (SNID; Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666, 1024) indicates that 2008A is most similar to the peculiar 2002cx-like type-Ia supernova 2005hk (Phillips et al. 2005, PASP 119, 360) at one week before maximum. The spectrum of 2008A consists of a blue continuum with P-Cyg profiles of high-ionization lines characteristic of the overluminous type-Ia supernova 1991T; yet the discovery magnitude of 17.6 corresponds to an absolute magnitude of -16.6 (assuming the galaxy is in the Hubble flow and the supernova suffers negligible extinction), similar to underluminous, 1991bg-like supernovae at a similar age. This was also the case for the peculiar supernova 2005hk, which confirms the resemblance between 2008A and 2005hk. Adopting a recession velocity of 4867 km/s for the host galaxy (from The Updated Zwicky Catalog, available at URL http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/uzc/), the maximum absorption in the weak Si II line (rest 635.5 nm) is blueshifted by roughly 7000 km/s, while the maximum absorptions in the Fe III lines (rest 440.4 nm and 512.9 nm) are blueshifted by roughly 8500 km/s. These relatively small blueshifts are characteristic of supernova-2002cx-like events.