VERITAS Detection of Elevated VHE Emission from IC 310
ATel #16535; Amy Furniss (UC Santa Cruz) for the VERITAS Collaboration
on 16 Mar 2024; 00:12 UT
Credential Certification: Amy Furniss (afurniss@ucsc.edu)
Referred to by ATel #: 16540
We report the VERITAS detection of very-high-energy (VHE; >100 GeV) emission from the active galactic nucleus IC 310 (z=0.0189, RA: 03 16 43.0 Dec: +41 19 29, J2000). Following the report of rapid variability in TeV gamma rays from IC 310 by LHAASO (ATel #16513), approximately 2 hours of dark-time observations were collected by VERITAS between March 10, 2024, and March 13, 2024 (UTC). A preliminary analysis of these data yields a statistical significance of 6.6 standard deviations with a preliminary flux estimate above 1 TeV of F = (3.1 +/- 0.8) e-12 cm^-2 s^-1, or approximately 15% of the Crab Nebula flux above the same threshold.
VERITAS will continue to observe IC 310 as long as observations are feasible. Multi-wavelength observations are encouraged. Questions regarding the VERITAS observations should be directed to Amy Furniss (afurniss@ucsc.edu). VERITAS (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System) is located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona, USA, and is most sensitive to gamma rays between 85 GeV and 30 TeV (http://veritas.sao.arizona.edu).
