It was discovered by Yoji Hirose on December 31, 2007 from Chigasaki city in Japan,[4] approximately four days after the explosion.
[3] The position of the supernova was offset 20.6″ east and 15.5″ south of the galaxy's nucleus,[2] near a star-forming region.
[5] It was identified as a Type Ib supernova from its spectrum a week before reaching maximum, and appeared the most similar to SN 2004gq.
[6] The light from this event was heavily reddened due to intervening dust in the host galaxy.
[3] The progenitor was likely a massive star that had been stripped of its hydrogen envelope by a binary companion.