The young and bright Type Ia supernova ASASSN-14lp: Discovery, early-time observations, first-light time, distance to NGC 4666, and progenitor constraints
On 2014 December 9.61, the All-sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN or "Assassin") discovered ASASSN-14lp just ~2 days after first light using a global array of 14 cm diameter telescopes. ASASSN-14lp went on to become a bright supernova (V = 11.94 mag), second only to SN 2014J for the year. We present prediscovery photometry (with a detection less than a day after first light) and ultraviolet through near-infrared photometric and spectroscopic data covering the rise and fall of ASASSN-14lp for more than 100 days. We find that ASASSN-14lp had a broad light curve ($${\rm{\Delta }}{m}_{15}(B)=0.80\pm 0.05$$), a B-band maximum atmore »