Optical behavior of 3C 454.3 in the current flaring state
ATel #2201; M. Sasada, M. Uemura, Y. Ikejiri, R. Itoh, M. Yamanaka, A. Arai (Hiroshima University), on behalf of the KANATA team
on 17 Sep 2009; 18:00 UT
Credential Certification: Hiromitsu Takahashi (hirotaka@hep01.hepl.hiroshima-u.ac.jp)
Subjects: Optical, AGN, Quasar
The blazar 3C 454.3 has recently brightened up in the gamma-ray and optical regions (ATel #2181; #2200). We performed optical photopolarimetric observations with the "KANATA" 1.5-m telescope at Higashi-Hiroshima Observatory.
Our preliminary analysis shows that the blazar 3C 454.3 is V=14.84+/-0.01 on 16.1 Sep 2009 (UT). The V-band magnitude is obtained with a comparison star located at RA=22:53:58.18, Dec=+16:09:06.9 (V=13.587; Gonzalez-Perez et al 2001, AJ, 122, 2055). The optical polarization degree of 3C 454.3 changes between 0% and 12% for the last 130 days. There is no prominent polarization change associated with the current gamma-ray flare. In the 2008 flare (see Abdo et al. 2009, ApJ, 699,817), the optical polarization degree was about 18.4%. The current polarization degree seems low (~5%) despite the current optical/gamma-ray activities. Our preliminary result can be found at http://kanatatmp.g.hatena.ne.jp/kanataobslog/?word=3C%20454%2e3 .
