VERITAS reports a High Gamma-ray Flux from VER J0521+211
ATel #2309; Rene A. Ong (for the VERITAS Collaboration)
on 23 Nov 2009; 02:26 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Request For Observations
Credential Certification: Rene Ong (rene@astro.ucla.edu)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, Request for Observations, AGN
The VERITAS Collaboration recently discovered a new very high energy (VHE;
E>100 GeV) source, VER J0521+211 (ATEL #2260), motivated by the
identification of a high energy source at this location in the public
Fermi-LAT data. The position is consistent, within errors, with the
location of the radio-loud active galaxy RGB J0521.8+2112, whose redshift
is unknown.
Ongoing VERITAS observations now show that the source has entered a higher
emission state, at a level 3-4 times higher than at the time of the original
detection. The observations were made on 22 November 2009, between 07:50 and
10:15 UTC, and the emission corresponds to a flux of 15-20% of the steady VHE
flux from the Crab Nebula.
VERITAS will continue monitoring the source over the coming week, and
observations at all wavelengths (including by other VHE observatories) are
encouraged.
