The nearby supernova factory

The Nearby Supernova Factory (SNfactory) is an ambitious project to find and study in detail approximately 300 nearby Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at redshifts 0.03 < z < 0.08. This program will provide an exceptional data set of well-studied SNe in the nearby smooth Hubble flow that can be used as calibration for the current and future programs designed to use SNe to measure the cosmological parameters. The first key ingredient for this program is a reliable supply of Hubble-flow SNe systematically discovered in unprecedented numbers using the same techniques as those used in distant SNe searches. In 2002, 35 SNe were found using our test-bed pipeline for automated SN search and discovery. The pipeline uses images from the asteroid search conducted by the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking group at JPL. Improvements in our subtraction techniques and analysis have allowed us to increase our effective SN discovery rate to {approx}12 SNe/month in 2003