Fermi LAT detection of a GeV flare from PMN J1626-2426
ATel #4325; Michael Dutka (Catholic U.) and Roopesh Ojha (NASA/GSFC) on behalf of the Fermi Large Area Telescope Collaboration
on 21 Aug 2012; 16:36 UT
Credential Certification: Roopesh Ojha (Roopesh.Ojha@gmail.com)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, Request for Observations, AGN, Blazar, Quasar
The Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of the two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has observed gamma-ray flaring activity from the position R.A.=16h24m53.04s, Dec.=-24d18m32.0s (95% radius: 0.25 degrees). This is in the vicinity of the flat spectrum radio source PMN J1626-2426 (also known as 2FGL J1627.0-2425c, Nolan et al. 2012, ApJS, 199, 31; R.A.= 16h27m00.010s, Dec.= -24d26m40.50s, J2000.0, Healey et al. 2007, ApJS, 171, 61). There does not appear to be any optical information, including redshift, in the literature. There is an HII region located at this R.A. and Dec as well which makes optical observations of this source very difficult.
Preliminary analysis indicates that the source brightened in gamma rays with a daily averaged flux (E > 100 MeV) of (1.0+/-0.3) x10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1 (errors are statistical only) on 19 August 2012, a factor of 17 greater than the average flux reported in the second Fermi LAT catalog (2FGL, Nolan et al. 2012, ApJS, 199, 31). This is the highest flux observed for this source since the beginning of the Fermi mission.
Because Fermi operates in all-sky survey mode, gamma-ray monitoring of this source will continue. In consideration of the activity of this source we encourage multiwavelength observations. The Fermi LAT contact person for this source is Michael Dutka (ditko86@gmail.com).
The Fermi LAT is a pair conversion telescope designed to cover the energy band from 20 MeV to greater than 300 GeV. It is the product of an international collaboration between NASA and DOE in the U.S. and many scientific institutions across France, Italy, Japan and Sweden.
