REM follow-up observations of the flaring flat spectrum radio quasar B2 1420+32
ATel #13428; F. D'Ammando (INAF-IRA Bologna), D. Fugazza (INAF-OA Brera), S. Covino (INAF-OA Brera)
on 30 Jan 2020; 12:57 UT
Credential Certification: Filippo D'Ammando (dammando@ira.inaf.it)
Subjects: Optical, AGN, Black Hole, Blazar, Quasar
Following a high activity period observed in High Energy gamma-rays by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope lasting for a few weeks (ATel #13382), the MAGIC collaboration reports the first detection of Very High Energy gamma-ray emission from the flat spectrum radio quasar B2 1420+32 (z = 0.682) on 2020 January 21 (ATel #13412).
The high activity of the source has been confirmed also in UV and X-rays by Swift observations performed on 2020 January 22 (ATel #13417).
Considering the on-going activity of the source we have activated follow-up observations with the robotic 60-cm REM telescope located at La Silla (Chile). Observations were carried out with the optical camera ROSS2 obtaining two 240 s integration images in the optical g', r', i' bands on 2020 January 24 and 29. Optical calibration was performed against the APASS catalog. Preliminary results are reported in the following table.
| Date-Obs | V-band | R-band | I-band |
|---|
| 2020-01-24T08:25:11 | 14.53+/-0.04 | 14.06+/-0.03 | 13.40+/-0.03 |
| 2020-01-24T08:31:10 | 14.54+/-0.04 | 14.08+/-0.03 | 13.44+/-0.03 |
| 2020-01-29T07:59:45 | 14.48+/-0.09 | 14.15+/-0.05 | 13.77+/-0.03 |
| 2020-01-29T08:05:44 | 14.47+/-0.06 | 14.09+/-0.03 | 13.62+/-0.04 |
REM observations confirm the flaring activity of the source in the optical bands on January 24, as previously reported in ATel #13421. The high activity of the source in optical is continuing on January 29, with only a slight decrease in the I band.
The data presented here were obtained as Target of Opportunity observations (PI: F. D'Ammando). REM will continue to monitor B2 1420+32 in the following weeks.
