Discovery of the heavily obscured supernova 2002cv

Universita` di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, ItalyReceived 1 June 2002, Accepted 1 June 2002Abstract. On the 13th of May 2002, supernova 2002cv was discovered using a near-infrared camera working at the AZT-24 1.1m telescope at Campo Imperatore (AQ-Italy). After theinfrared detection a simultaneous photometric follow-up wasstarted at optical wavelengths. The preliminary results confirm a heavily obscured object with a V − K color not lower than 6magnitudes, making SN 2002cv the most reddened supernova ever observed. This finding, along with the recent discovery ofanother obscured supernova, suggests a critical revision of the rates known to date. The estimate of the visual extinction andthe light curves are provided here. These latter indicate that our SN 2002cv observations are the earliest available for a type-Iasupernova at IR wavelengths.Key words. supernovae: general – supernovae: individual: SN2002cv – I nfrared: galaxies