Optical Flare in the new gamma-ray flat spectrum radio source PMN J1606-0353
ATel #13708; Tapio Pursimo (NOT), Roopesh Ojha (NASA/GSFC/UMBC), and Haakon Dahle (ITA, U. of Oslo).
on 4 May 2020; 23:46 UT
Credential Certification: Roopesh Ojha (Roopesh.Ojha@gmail.com)
Subjects: Optical, Gamma Ray, >GeV, AGN, Blazar, Quasar
We report optical photometry of the flat spectrum radio source PMN
J1606-0353, obtained with the 2.56m Nordic Optical Telescope in La
Palma, to look for any enhanced optical activity associated with its
first detection in the gamma-ray band (ATel#13389).
These NOT observations were made using the ALFOSC (Alhambra Faint
Object Spectrograph and Camera) instrument. Standard IRAF data
reduction (de-biasing + flat field correction with twilight flats) was
carried out. The magnitude is
obtained using SExtractor MAG_AUTO and the magnitude zero point was
calibrated against PS1 field stars near the target.
The std-dev of the zero point was 0.02 mag.
We find that PMN J1606-0353 has SDSS i-magnitude = 18.25+/-0.02 and
18.87+/-0.03 at epochs 2020-04-19T0549 and 2020-04-21T0542, respectively.
This is over 6 times brighter at the first epoch than its PS1 i-magnitude of
20.29.
We encourage further multi-wavelength coverage. We will continue to
monitor this source and report future developments using this and
other platforms.
