AGILE detection of increasing gamma-ray activity of blazar PKS 1424-418

ATel #15818; F. Verrecchia, C. Pittori (SSDC and INAF/OAR), G. Piano (INAF/IAPS), M. Tavani (INAF/IAPS, and Univ. Roma Tor Vergata), G. Panebianco (Univ. Bologna INAF/OAS-Bo), A. Bulgarelli, V. Fioretti, N. Parmiggiani, A. Addis, L. Baroncelli, A. Di Piano (INAF/OAS-Bo), F. Lucarelli (SSDC and INAF/OAR), S. Vercellone (INAF/OA-Brera), M. Cardillo, A. Ursi, C. Casentini (INAF/IAPS), I. Donnarumma (ASI), F. Gianotti, M. Trifoglio (INAF/OAS-Bo), A. Giuliani, S. Mereghetti, P. Caraveo, F. Perotti (INAF/IASF-Mi), A. Chen (Wits University), A. Argan, E. Costa, E. Del Monte, Y. Evangelista, M. Feroci, L. Foffano, I. Lapshov, E. Menegoni, L. Pacciani, P. Soffitta, V. Vittorini (INAF/IAPS), F. Lazzarotto (INAF/OAPD), G. Di Cocco, F. Fuschino, M. Galli, C. Labanti (INAF/OAS-Bo), M. Marisaldi (University of Bergen), A. Pellizzoni, M. Pilia, A. Trois (INAF/OA-Cagliari), G. Barbiellini (INFN Trieste), F. Longo (Univ. Trieste and INFN Trieste), E. Vallazza (INFN Milano Bicocca), A. Morselli, P. Picozza (INFN and Univ. Roma Tor Vergata), M. Prest (Univ. dell'Insubria), P. Lipari, D. Zanello (INFN and Univ. Roma Sapienza), P. W. Cattaneo, A. Rappoldi (INFN Pavia), A. Ferrari (Univ. Torino and CIFS), L. A. Antonelli (INAF/OAR), P. Giommi, L. Salotti, G. Valentini, and F. D'Amico (ASI)
on 21 Dec 2022; 13:27 UT
Credential Certification: Francesco Verrecchia (francesco.verrecchia@ssdc.asi.it)

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The GRID detector onboard the AGILE satellite is detecting strong gamma-ray activity from the blazar PKS 1424-418 (z = 1.522, White et al., ApJ 327 561, 1988) already reported to be in an optical (ATOM, ATel #15552), radio (ATCA, ATel #15552), and GeV flaring activity period Fermi/LAT (ATel #15807) and by AGILE/GRID (ATel #15533).

Integrating from 2022-12-19 UT 09:00:00 to 2022-12-21 UT 09:00:00, a preliminary multi-source likelihood analysis yields a detection at 7.2 sigma, and a gamma-ray flux F(>100 MeV) = (7 +/- 1) x 10^-6 photons/cm^2/s. Multifrequency observations of this blazar are strongly encouraged.

The AGILE-GRID detection was obtained while AGILE is observing in spinning mode, surveying a large fraction of the sky each day. The source can be monitored with the public mobile application "AGILEScience" developed by the AGILE Team, available for both Android and iOS devices.