A truly exceptional supernova has just erupted. The object in question is SN 2009ip in NGC 7259. Although this object was discovered in 2009 and judged to be the eruption of a luminous blue variable star (LBV), it is now erupting again, which may well be the signature of its explosion as a supernova. We have been following this event at many wavelengths, including the UV with SWIFT. Although that gives us a baseline to estimate the UV properties of SN 2009ip, the SWIFT observations to date are quite limited. Ultraviolet observations with HST have proven exceptionally informative in some cases, such as SN 2010jl, and that is what we request here at the very end of Cycle 19. We have no further orbits left in our program GO12540, but this is a unique opportunity for HST. We request Director's Discretionary time for this set of observations, the first of which is a non-disruptive TOO. TBD HOT STARS 0 false 0.0 0.0 false false false false SUPPORTED EXT-STAR SUPERNOVA This object was generated by the targetselector and retrieved from the SIMBAD database. J2000 STIS/CCD Spectroscopic No No G230LB 2375 STIS/CCD Spectroscopic No No G230LB 2375 STIS/CCD Spectroscopic No No G430L 4300 STIS/CCD Spectroscopic No No G750L 7751 COS/FUV Spectroscopic No No G130M 1300 COS/FUV Spectroscopic No No G160M 1600 STIS/CCD Spectroscopic No No G230LB 2375 STIS/CCD Spectroscopic No No G430L 4300 COS/FUV Spectroscopic No No G130M 1300 COS/FUV Spectroscopic No No G160M 1600 STIS/CCD Spectroscopic No No G430L 4300 COS/FUV Spectroscopic No No G130M 1300 COS/FUV Spectroscopic No No G160M 1600 The scheduling data was generated by CASM 20.2. CASM was run in Phase II mode. please try to schedule early in the SMS... if possible... (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 13179 :visit-id "01" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20120802" :date "15-Oct-2012 16:51:42.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "24" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 239648 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 13179 :visit-id "01" :obset-id "01" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 13179 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 333 :si-vis-utilization 2864 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 640 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3253 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 1 0 The scheduling data was generated by CASM 20.2. CASM was run in Phase II mode. The SWIFT UV mag show a slow decline of flux. decline is 0.05 mag/day Oct 15th measurement shows U flux of 12.8 +/- 0.1 I used Flat continuum @ 13.1 for the COS acq exposure. we used the spectrum of type IIn sn1998S 13 days after explosion to show an upper limit of what we expect with COS. Currently, sn2009ip is about 2-3 times fainter in the UV then sn1998S. If STScI wants us to obtain the STIS spectrum first to make sure COS acq exposure time... thats fine with us. out latest SWIFT spectrum says acq exposure time of 120 seconds COS.ta.434043, so probably 240 is okay. we don't expect any emission lines brigher than geo coronal Lyman alpha. (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 13179 :visit-id "02" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20120802" :date "15-Oct-2012 16:54:08.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 3 :saa-model "31" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 809120 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 13179 :visit-id "02" :obset-id "02" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 13179 :visit-id "02" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 333 :si-vis-utilization 2791 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 76 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3253 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 13179 :visit-id "02" :orbit-number 2 :pcs-time 222 :si-vis-utilization 2987 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 57 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3253 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 13179 :visit-id "02" :orbit-number 3 :pcs-time 222 :si-vis-utilization 2938 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 366 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3253 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 3 0 I used U 13.1 flat continuum. add a little more as the UV flux is decreasing. decline is 0.05 mags/day Oct 13th flux was 12.8, so on Oct 25th it will be 12 days * 0.05 = 0.3 mags fainter