MAGIC discovers VHE gamma ray emission from the blazar S50716+714
ATel #1500; Masahiro Teshima, Spokesperson for the MAGIC collaboration
on 30 Apr 2008; 15:11 UT
Credential Certification: Masahiro Teshima (mteshima@mppmu.mpg.de)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, AGN
Referred to by ATel #: 1502
The MAGIC collaboration reports the detection of the blazar S50716+714 (redshift unknown) in very high energy gamma-rays, using the 17m diameter MAGIC Cherenkov telescope on La Palma (27.8 N, 17.8 W, 2200 m asl). The observations were performed from April 22 to 24, 2008 and were triggered by the KVA Telescope due to the high optical state of the object. The source is also in a high X-ray state as reported by Swift (Giommi et al., ATel #1495). A preliminary analysis of MAGIC data (3 nights, 2.6 hours in total) revealed a signal of 6.8 sigma corresponding to a flux of F (above 400GeV) ≈ 10^(-11) ph/cm^2/s. MAGIC will continue the observation of S50716+714. Multi-frequency observations are strongly encouraged.
