Fermi LAT detection of a possible new gamma-ray flaring blazar: PKS 1454-354

ATel #1701; M. Marelli (INAF/IASF Milano)
on 5 Sep 2008; 22:38 UT
Credential Certification: Gino Tosti (tosti@pg.infn.it)

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The Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (formerly GLAST) (launched June 11, 2008), has observed high flux from a source positionally consistent with the blazar PKS 1454-354 (R.A.: 14h57m26.7117s Dec.: -35d39m09.971, J2000, A.L. Fey et al. 2006 AJ, 132, 1944, NED B magnitude 19.5) starting on 4 September 2008. Preliminary analysis indicates that the source has brightened to a high state with a gamma-ray flux (E>100MeV) above the pre-defined LAT flaring source reporting threshold of 2x10-6 photons cm-2 s-1. This is a known radio source classified as a Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar (FSRQ), with a redshift of 1.42. It was possibly previously seen in gamma rays by EGRET as 3EG 1500-3509 (R. Hartman et al. 1999, ApJS, 123, 79), at a level less than 1/10 of the current flux (a confident identification was not possible in the past due to the large error box of the EGRET source). 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.