An exceptionally large optical-NIR flare of the FSQR Ton 599

ATel #10949; J. A. Acosta Pulido, J. Redondo (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Spain), M. I. Carnerero, C. M. Raiteri, M. Villata (INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Italy), V. M.Larionov, E. N.Kopatskaya (St. Petersburg University, Russia), for the GASP-WEBT collaboration.
on 11 Nov 2017; 10:39 UT
Credential Certification: Jose A. Acosta-Pulido (jap@iac.es)

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We report on optical and NIR observations of the FSRQ Ton 599 performed in the framework of the GLAST-AGILE Support Program (GASP) of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT). Ton 599 is exhibiting a large NIR flare, the source was detected with the following magnitudes J=12.28+-0.15, H=11.43+-0.15 and Ks=10.60+-0.15 on JD ~2458067.75. These values indicate that the NIR flare stated by ATel #10932 is still on-going and we find a brightness increase by ~0.5 magnitudes in the J and H bands and ~0.2 in Ks with respect to observations performed 3.8 days ago (ATel #10932). Up to our knowledge the source is on its highest state since ~2008 when GASP-WEBT initiated. We also measured the source in the optical range, we found magnitudes R=14.03 and I=13.45 on TJD58065.57. The NIR observations were carried out using the 1.5 m Carlos Sanchez Telescope (TCS) at the Teide Observatory (Spain), equipped with the camera CAIN-III. The TCS is operated by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (Tenerife-Spain). The optical observations were obtained with the 40cm LX-200 telescope in St.Petersburg.