VERITAS Discovery of VHE Gamma-Ray Emission from BL Lac object RGB J0710+591
ATel #1941; Rene Ong (UCLA) for the VERITAS Collaboration
on 25 Feb 2009; 00:32 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Request For Observations
Credential Certification: Philip Kaaret (philip-kaaret@uiowa.edu)
Subjects: >GeV, Request for Observations, AGN
The VERITAS collaboration reports the discovery of very high energy
(VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the BL Lac object RGB
J0710+591 (z=0.125). This new VHE source was observed for ~18 hours
good-quality live time between 3 January and 23 February 2009 (UT)
with the VERITAS atmospheric-Cherenkov telescope array. Preliminary
analysis of these data yields a detection of ~100 gamma-rays from RGB
J0710+591 corresponding to a significance of >5 standard deviations.
The VHE flux is ~1.6% of the Crab above 300 GeV, and there is no
evidence of flux variability. VERITAS will continue to observe RGB
J0710+591 and contemporaneous multi-wavelength observations of this
blazar are encouraged.
