Fermi-LAT detection of enhanced gamma-ray activity from the FSRQ PKS 1244-255
ATel #14287; R. Angioni (SSDC/INFN) on behalf of the Fermi Large Area Telescope Collaboration
on 23 Dec 2020; 17:29 UT
Credential Certification: Roberto Angioni (r.angioni90@gmail.com)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, Request for Observations, AGN, Blazar, Quasar
The Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of the two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has observed enhanced gamma-ray activity from a source positionally consistent with the flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS 1244-255, also known as 4FGL J1246.7-2548 (The Fermi-LAT collaboration 2020, ApJS, 247, 33), with coordinates R.A. = 191.695008 deg, Decl. = -25.797024 deg (J2000; Johnston et al. 1995, AJ, 110, 880), and redshift z=0.633 (Savage et al. 1976, MNRAS, 177, 77).
Preliminary analysis indicates that this source was in an elevated gamma-ray emission state on 22 December 2020, with a daily averaged gamma-ray flux (E>100MeV) of (2.0+/-0.3) X 10^-6 photons cm^-2 s^-1 (statistical uncertainty only). This corresponds to a flux increase of a factor of 15 relative to the average flux reported in the fourth Fermi-LAT catalog (4FGL). This is the highest LAT daily flux ever observed for this source. The corresponding photon index is 2.1+/-0.1, and is significantly smaller than the 4FGL value of 2.31+/-0.01. Gamma-ray flaring activity from PKS 1244-255 was previously reported in January 2009 (ATel #1894).
Because Fermi normally operates in an all-sky scanning mode, regular gamma-ray monitoring of this source will continue. This source is included in the "LAT Monitored Sources" and consequently, a preliminary estimation of the daily gamma-ray flux observed by Fermi-LAT will be publicly available ( http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/access/lat/msl_lc/ ). We encourage multifrequency observations of this source. For this source, the Fermi-LAT contact person is Roberto Angioni (roberto.angioni@ssdc.asi.it).
The Fermi-LAT is a pair conversion telescope designed to cover the energy band from 20 MeV to greater than 300 GeV. It is the product of an international collaboration between NASA and DOE in the U.S. and many scientific institutions across France, Italy, Japan and Sweden.
