The MAGIC telescopes detect a very-high-energy gamma-ray flare from OP313
ATel #16977; David Paneque (Max Planck Institute for Physics), Axel Arbet-Engels (Max Planck Institute for Physics), Mireia Nievas Rosillo (IAC), Giacomo Bonnoli (INAF, Brera Astronomical Observatory), Jorge Otero Santos (INFN Padova) on behalf of the MAGIC collaboration
on 14 Jan 2025; 18:46 UT
Credential Certification: David Paneque (dpaneque@mppmu.mpg.de)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, TeV, VHE, Request for Observations, AGN, Blazar, Transient
The MAGIC Collaboration reports the detection of bright very-high-energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the flat spectrum radio quasar (FRSQ) OP313 (R.A. = 197.61943 deg, Dec. = +32.34549 deg, J2000.0). The preliminary analysis of the MAGIC data taken on 2025/01/11 (MJD 60686) resulted in the detection of OP313 with a statistical significance above 10 standard deviations after about 1 hour of observations.
OP313 is a blazar located at redshift 0.997 (Schneider et al. 2010, AJ, 139, 2360). The first detection at VHE was reported in December 2023 by the LST-1 telescope (ATel #16381). Since then, the source exhibited multiple flaring episodes at gamma-ray energies (ATel #16497, ATel #16940).
The MAGIC observations were triggered by the flaring activity at GeV energies, as has been recently measured by Fermi-LAT on January 6, 2025 (ATel #16970). Strong enhancements in the optical frequencies were also reported by ATel #16964 and ATel #16972.
The MAGIC telescopes will continue to monitor the source during the next weeks. Follow-up observations (gamma-rays, X-rays, optical, NIR, radio) are strongly encouraged. The MAGIC contact persons for these observations are D.Paneque (dpaneque@mppmu.mpg.de), Axel Arbet-Engels (aarbet@mpp.mpg.de), Mireia Nievas Rosillo (mireia.nievas@iac.es), Giacomo Bonnoli (giacomo.bonnoli@inaf.it), Jorge Otero Santos (jorge.otero@pd.infn.it).
MAGIC is a system of two 17m-diameter Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes located at the Canary island of La Palma, Spain, and designed to perform gamma-ray astronomy in the energy range from 50 GeV to greater than 50 TeV.
