Abstract:
We present UBVRI CCD photometry and optical spectra of the type Ia supernova SN 2003hx which appeared in the galaxy NGC 2076, obtained till ∼ 146 d after the epoch of B-band maximum. The supernova reached at maximum brightness in B band on JD 245 2893 ± 1.0 with an apparent magnitude of 14.92 ± 0.01 mag which was estimated by making template fits to the light curves. SN 2003hx is an example of a highly reddened supernova with E(B−V) = 0.56 ± 0.23 . We estimate Rv= 1.97 ± 0.54 which indicates the small size of dust particles as compared to their galactic counterparts. The luminosity decline rate is Δm15(B) = 1.17 ± 0.12 mag and the absolute B-band magnitude obtained from the luminosity versus decline rate relation (Phillips et al. 1999) is MBmax=−19.20 ± 0.18 mag. The peak bolometric luminosity indicates that ∼0.66 M⊙ mass of 56Ni was ejected by the supernova. The spectral evolution indicates the supernova to be a normal type Ia event
