AGILE detection of a gamma-ray source coincident with Blazar PKS 1510-08
ATel #1436; F. D'Ammando (INAF/IASF Roma), A. Bulgarelli (INAF/IASF Bologna), S. Vercellone, A. Giuliani, A. Chen, S. Mereghetti, A. Pellizzoni, F. Perotti, F. Fornari, M. Fiorini, P. Caraveo, A. Zambra (INAF/IASF Milano), F. Gianotti, M. Trifoglio, G. Di Cocco, C. Labanti, F. Fuschino, M. Marisaldi, M. Galli, (INAF/IASF Bologna), M. Tavani, G. Pucella, V. Vittorini, E. Costa, M. Feroci, I. Donnarumma, L. Pacciani, E. Del Monte, F. Lazzarotto, P. Soffitta, Y. Evangelista, I. Lapshov, M. Rapisarda, A. Argan, A. Trois , G. De Paris (INAF/IASF Roma), G. Barbiellini, F. Longo, E. Vallazza (INFN Trieste), P. Picozza, A. Morselli (INFN Roma-2), M. Prest, (Universita` dell'Insubria), P. Lipari, D. Zanello (INFN Roma-1), F. Mauri (INFN Pavia) and P. Giommi, C. Pittori, D. Gasparrini, S. Cutini, B. Preger, P. Santolamazza, F. Verrecchia (ASDC) and L. Salotti (ASI)
on 20 Mar 2008; 15:08 UT
Credential Certification: Stefano Vercellone (stefano@iasf-milano.inaf.it)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, AGN, Quasar
The AGILE satellite, currently in a Cycle-1 pointing centered on the
Galactic Center region, during the observing period that started on
2008-03-16 12:00 UT, detected significant gamma-ray emission
from a source at approximately 40 degrees off the AGILE pointing
direction. The AGILE Quicklook Analysis provides the source positional
error box that is centered at Galactic coordinates l = 351.61 deg,
b = 40.09 deg, and has a radius of about 0.5 degrees.
We note that this position is consistent with the radio position of the blazar
PKS 1510-08 that has been associated with the gamma-ray source 3EG J1512-0849.
This source was already detected by the AGILE-GRID (Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector)
between 2007-08-27 14:48 UT and 2007-08-30 10:50 UT (see ATEL #1199 and ATEL #1204).
A preliminary maximum likelihood analysis of the AGILE-GRID data obtained
between 2008-03-18 03:00 UT and 2008-03-20 03:00 UT for photon energies
above 100 MeV results in a detection significance of about 7 sigma.
During the same period, the source was outside the Super-AGILE field of view.
We strongly encourage multi-frequency observations of PKS 1510-08
detected by AGILE in an active gamma-ray flaring state.
