Extended Optical Flaring of the Blazars 3C 279 and Mark 421

ATel #11216; C. S.Turner, H. R. Miller (Georgia State University, USA)
on 22 Jan 2018; 19:59 UT
Credential Certification: Hugh Miller (miller@chara.gsu.edu)

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We report observations of the gamma-ray/optical flaring blazars Markarian 421 and 3C 279 with the 0.5 m telescope at Georgia State University's Hard Labor Creek Observatory. The observations were obtained on Jan 21, 2018. Observation of these targets were triggered by the recent reports of gamma-ray and optical flaring of both Markarian 421 (ATel # 11194, #11195) and 3C 279 (ATel #11196, #11200, #11202). We report R=12.79+/-0.01 on Jan 21.33 UT for Markarian 421 and R= 13.48+/-0.01 on Jan 21.38 UT for 3C 279. The observations of 3C 279 indicate a brightening of ~0.46 mag in ~2 days since the observations reported in ATEL #11202.