VERITAS discovers TeV gamma rays from W Comae
ATel #1422; Simon Swordy (University of Chicago) for the VERITAS collaboration
on 14 Mar 2008; 06:10 UT
Credential Certification: Simon Swordy (s-swordy@uchicago.edu)
Subjects: >GeV, Request for Observations
Referred to by ATel #: 1565
We report on the discovery of TeV gamma-ray emission from the AGN W Comae by the VERITAS telescope array. W Comae is a BL Lac at a redshift z=0.102. This object appears to be in a flaring state with a particularly high flux level on 13 March 2008 UT. In this high state VERITAS collected ~30 gamma-rays per hour giving an excess of 5 sigma significance from this single night's data. We are continuing to observe W Comae this month. Multi-wavelength observations across the electromagnetic spectrum are very much encouraged.
