NGC 1275 is presently in an exceptionally bright state in the optical as well
ATel #17955; O. Domann, S. Duerr, M. Brown, D. Kandiyil, S. Ankara, E. Bommert, M. Camara, H. Grebner, F. Lach, B. Lehmann, D. Paulini, D. Schneider, M. Feige, D. Reinhart, R. Steineke, N. Zottmann, C. Lorey (all Hans-Haffner-Sternwarte, Friedrich-Koenig-Gymnasium, Wuerzburg, Germany) K. Mannheim (University of Wurzburg, Germany) D. Elsaesser (TU Dortmund, Germany)
on 10 Aug 2026; 11:09 UT
Credential Certification: Dominik Elsaesser (dominik.elsaesser@tu-dortmund.de)
NGC 1275 (also 3C 84, S4 0316+41) at RA = 03 19 48.156 and Dec = +41 30 42.109 in the ICRS=J2000 coordinate system; z = 0.0168 (data from the Simbad Astronomical Database) reached an extreme brightness last night with an optical magnitude of 12.713 ± 0.002 in the R band.
Over the past three years, the optical magnitude of this object in the R band has generally ranged between 12.9 and 13.2 mag, with a few minor variations in either direction. Since early August, the optical brightness has been increasing at an exceptionally rapid rate for this object. The last time we measured similarly high values in the R-band for this object was in March 2023 (12.768) and in April 2018 (12.727).
NGC 1275 has also shown increased activity in the gamma-ray spectrum in recent days, as detected by Fermi-LAT (ATel #17943 and ATel #17949), which coincides with the increase in optical brightness.
We report the following preliminary R-band magnitudes:
JD 2461259.3856: 12.855 ± 0.003
JD 2461259.4495: 12.882 ± 0.003
JD 2461259.4896: 12.879 ± 0.003
JD 2461260.3856: 12.841 ± 0.003
JD 2461260.5213: 12.845 ± 0.002
JD 2461260.6132: 12.853 ± 0.003
JD 2461261.3605: 12.754 ± 0.004
JD 2461261.4253: 12.775 ± 0.003
JD 2461261.5191: 12.788 ± 0.002
JD 2461261.6050: 12.794 ± 0.002
JD 2461262.4730: 12.713 ± 0.002
JD 2461262.5227: 12.723 ± 0.002
JD 2461262.5998: 12.726 ± 0.002
JD 2461262.6234: 12.732 ± 0.003
Our measurements are carried out as part of the long-term AGN monitoring program of the Naturwissenschaftliches Labor fuer Schueler am Friedrich-Koenig-Gymnasium (FKG), the Universitaet Wuerzburg, and TU Dortmund University.
Comparison stars and their magnitudes were taken from V. T. Doroshenko et al., Astrophysics 2005, 48, 156-178.
The optical data were acquired through a Bessel R filter (Chroma) with a 0.5m CDK-astrograph (PlaneWave) and a Moravian C4-16000EC camera at the school and university observatory Hans-Haffner-Sternwarte in 97265 Hettstadt, Germany (https://schuelerlabor-wuerzburg.de/en/observatory/).
Hans-Haffner-Sternwarte
