Fermi LAT Detection of a New Gamma-ray Transient in the Galactic Plane: Fermi J0614+1713
ATel #15196; I. Mereu (INFN Perugia), C. C. Cheung (NRL), on behalf of the Fermi-LAT collaboration
on 2 Feb 2022; 03:06 UT
Credential Certification: Teddy Cheung (Teddy.Cheung@nrl.navy.mil)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, Request for Observations, Transient
On Jan 31, 2022, the Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of the two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, observed gamma-ray emission from a new transient source, Fermi J0614+1713. Preliminary analysis indicates that this source was in an elevated gamma-ray emission state with a daily averaged gamma-ray flux (E >100 MeV) of (1.2 +/- 0.3) x 10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1, and a photon index, Gamma = 2.2 +/- 0.2.
The best-fit location of this gamma-ray source (RA = 93.63 deg, Decl. = 17.23 deg; J2000) has a 95% containment radius of 0.26 deg (errors are statistical only). This source is located near the Galactic plane (l, b = 193.46 deg, -0.07 deg), and is not in any published LAT catalog and in the past has not been detected by AGILE or EGRET. There is no clear counterpart to the LAT transient: the known Swift-BAT source, Swift J0614.0+1709, is located within the LAT 95% confidence localization region but is identified as a magnetic CV (Halpern & Thorstensen 2015 AJ, 150, 170) and thus unlikely to be related.
Because Fermi normally operates in an all-sky scanning mode, regular gamma-ray monitoring of this source will continue. We encourage multifrequency observations of this source. For this source, the Fermi-LAT contact person is Isabella Mereu (mereuisabella at gmail.com).
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.
