Optical brightening of the blazar IVS B0125+487 (GB6 J0128+4901)
ATel #18061; Kirill Sokolovsky, Katie Barnhart, Darien Perla, Pragati Acharya, John Worley, Anthony Pearce, Vallia Antoniou, Elias Aydi (TTU)
on 19 Sep 2026; 18:02 UT
Credential Certification: Kirill Sokolovsky (kirx@scan.sai.msu.ru)
Subjects: Optical, AGN, Black Hole, Blazar, Quasar
An unusual rapid optical brightening of the blazar IVS B0125+487
(GB6 J0128+4901; z=0.067 Marcha et al. 1996, MNRAS 281, 425) was
observed by the NMW-TexasTech transient survey. The source first
appeared above the NMW-TexasTech detection limit
on 2026-09-14.365 UTC at an unfiltered magnitude (with V
zero-point) of CV= 15.62 +/-0.12. It peaked on 2026-09-18.344 at
CV= 14.26 +/-0.05, with the latest measurement on 2026-09-19.430
putting it at CV= 14.54 +/-0.11.
The ASAS-SN Sky Patrol (Shappee et al. 2014, ApJ, 788, 48;
Kochanek et al. 2017, PASP, 129, 104502) and ZTF (Bellm et al.
2019, PASP, 131, 018002; Malanchev et al. 2023, PASP, 135, 024503)
photometry shows no comparable brightenings since 2014 and 2018,
respectively. The typical r band magnitude of the source is around
17 with the brightest ZTF measurement of r=16.11 +/-0.01
on 2023-10-17.24577.
The NMW-TexasTech survey operates two identical wide-field cameras:
unfiltered QHY600PH-M CMOS attached to Rokinon 135mm telephoto
lenses on ZWO AM5 mounts located at TTU Preston Gott Skyview
Observatory in Shallowater, Texas.
NMW-TexasTech observations of 0125+487
