Supernovae 2009fx and 2009fy

SN 2009fy was discovered in unfiltered CCD images taken on June 1.04 with the 0.45-m ROTSE-IIId telescope at the TUBITAK National Observatory at Bakirlitepe, Turkey, and it was also observed by ROTSE-IIIb since May 24.43, although the transient-search pipeline software did not identify it due to a nearby saturated object. SN 2009fy is located at R.A. = 23h24m05s.13, Decl. = +16o39'50".9 (equinox 2000.0, uncertainty about 0".5), which is 1".4 west and 7".7 north of the center of its apparent host galaxy, SDSS J232405.23+163943.1 (= 2MASXI J2324052+163943; z = 0.0408, according to NED). ROTSE-III photometry shows 2009fy at mag about 16.0 between May 24 and 28, and it decayed afterward. A finding chart has been posted at website URL http://www.rotse.net/rsvp/j232405.1+163951/j232405.1+163951.jpg. An HET/LRS spectrum obtained by S. C. Odewahn on June 8.44 shows 2009fy to be a type-Ia supernova about two weeks after maximum. According to SNID, the spectrum best resembles those of SN 1991T (16 days after maximum) and SN 1997br (+12 days). The Si II 635.5-nm line appears to be slightly blended with Na I D. There is no O I feature at 770 nm, and the Ca triplet is weak. The redshift measured by SNID is z = 0.042, which is consistent with the redshift of the host. The photospheric velocity, estimated from the minimum of the Si II 635.5-nm feature, and corrected for the host-galaxy redshift, is about 8700 km/s.