A possible WISE blazar counterpart of the New Gamma-ray Transient Fermi J1717-5156

ATel #4029; F. Massaro (Stanford University), R. D'Abrusco (SAO), A. Paggi (SAO), M. Ajello (SLAC)
on 11 Apr 2012; 00:10 UT
Credential Certification: Teddy Cheung (ccheung@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov)

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Following the Fermi LAT Detection of a new gamma-ray transient near the Galactic plane: Fermi J1717-5156 (ATEL #4023), we searched in the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE; Wright et al. 2010 AJ, 140, 1868) catalog at the position of the Fermi source for a gamma-ray blazar candidate using the association procedure outlined in Massaro, F. et al. 2011 ApJ, 740L, 48 and in Massaro, F. et al. 2012 ApJ in press (http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.3801). Our association procedure is based on infrared color analyses using WISE data.

Our search found a single source with IR colors typical of gamma-ray blazars within the Fermi positional uncertainty. The source is WISE J171734.65-515532.0 and its coordinates are:
R.A.(J2000) = 17h17m34.65s (259.3943902 deg)
Dec. (J2000) = -51d55m32.06s (-51.9255725 deg).

According to the WISE All-sky catalog (available at http://wise2.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/release/allsky/ ), WISE J171734.65-515532.0 is detected in all four energy bands with the following magnitudes:
m(3.4 micron) = 14.718 +/- 0.041
m(4.6 micron) = 13.855 +/- 0.055
m(12 micron) = 10.566 +/- 0.072
m(22 micron) = 7.984 +/- 0.177

The WISE gamma-ray blazar candidate (WISE J171734.65-515532.0) is positionally consistent (0.38 arcsec offset) with the VLBI position of the radio source PMN J1717-5155 (R.A. (J2000): 17h17m34.6918s, Dec. (J2000): -51d55m31.926s), which was indicated as a possible low energy counterpart of the Fermi transient (ATel# 4023). We conclude that the new Fermi source is most probably a gamma-ray blazar.

This analysis makes use of data products from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which is a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Additional details concerning the association procedure can be found in D'Abrusco, R. et al. 2012 ApJ, 748, 68; Massaro, F. et al. 2012 ApJ (http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.1330); Massaro, F., et al. 2012 ApJ in press (http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.4230).