Discovery, Confirmation, and Designation of Supernovae

Abstract

Supernovae are unpredictable events. Quick distribution of a report of the discovery and confirmation of a supernova is especially important to understand such events. This chapter summarizes the recent status of the notification of supernovae discoveries. The system introduced by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in the 1990s was able to cope with the rate of discoveries at that time, namely, tens per year, but has been rendered obsolescent by the flood of discoveries from new surveys.