Following the posting on the Central Bureau's Transient Object Confirmation Page about a possible Supernova in M82 (TOCP Designation: PSN J09554214+6940260) we performed some follow-up of this object through a 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD + f/4.5 focal reducer from MPC Code H06 (iTelescope, New Mexico).

On our images taken on January 22.3, 2014 we can confirm the presence of an optical counterpart with unfiltered CCD magnitude 11.3 and R-filtered magnitude 11.0 at coordinates:

R.A. = 09 55 42.17, Decl.= +69 40 25.9

(equinox 2000.0; UCAC-3 catalogue reference stars).

Our confirmation image (click on it for a bigger version):

Supernova
© Remanzacco Observatory
An animation showing a comparison between our confirmation image of supernova in M82 and archive image by 2-meter telescope FTN - LCOGT (dated back to 2013-11-22).

According to the ATel #5786 this is a Type Ia supernova with a Si II velocity of 20000 km/s (spectrum of this transient has been obtained with the Dual Imaging Spectrograph on the ARC 3.5m telescope).

UPDATE - January 17, 2014 - 1600UT

We have received an e-mail from the UCL (University College London) media office reporting that students and staff at UCL's teaching observatory, the University of London Observatory, have spotted this supernova in M82 on the night of January 21.

According to UCL website:
"At 19:20 last night (21 January), a team of students assisted by Dr Steve Fossey spotted the exploding star in nearby galaxy Messier 82 (the Cigar Galaxy). The observations have been submitted to the International Astronomical Union's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, which is the official arbiter of supernova discoveries. Their official report has not yet been issued, and the supernova is therefore still nameless, but UCL appears to have been among the first, if not the first, to spot the event."
While we wait the release of the official CBET by Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) with the discovery credit, congrats to Dr Steve Fossey and his students for the discovery of the closest supernova to Earth since the Supernova 1987A and the closest supernova Type Ia since SN 1972E.

Below you can see the discovery image (click on it for a bigger version).

M82 Supernova
© UCL/University of London Observatory/Steve Fossey/Ben Cooke/Guy Pollack/Matthew Wilde/Thomas Wright