Fermi LAT detection of a GeV flare from PKS 0906+015
ATel #2543; F. K. Schinzel (MPIfR) and K. V. Sokolovsky (MPIfR/ASC Lebedev) on behalf of the Fermi Large Area Telescope Collaboration
on 9 Apr 2010; 23:45 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Request For Observations
Credential Certification: Frank Schinzel (schinzel@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de)
Subjects: Request for Observations, AGN, Quasar, Transient
Referred to by ATel #: 2582
The Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of the two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has observed an increasing gamma-ray flux from a source positionally consistent with PKS 0906+015 (1FGL J0909.0+0126, 4C +01.24, z=1.024 +/-0.003; Abazajian et al. 2004, AJ, 128, 502), R.A.= 09:09:10.09160, Dec.= +01:21:35.6179, J2000 (VLBI, Beasley et al. 2002, ApJS, 141, 13). The source is monitored by the VLBA at 15 GHz as member of the flux-limited MOJAVE-I sample ( http://www.physics.purdue.edu/MOJAVE/sourcepages/0906+015.shtml ), it has a one-sided jet on parsec-scales with observed superluminal motions of up to 20c (Lister et al. 2009, AJ, 138, 1874).
Preliminary analysis indicates that the source on April 8, 2010 was in a high state with a gamma-ray flux (E>100MeV) of (1.2 +/-0.4) x 10^-6 photons cm^-2 s^-1 (errors are statistical only) which represents an increase by a factor of ~10 with respect to the average source flux level during the first 11 months of the Fermi mission (arXiv:1002.2280).
Because Fermi operates in an all-sky scanning mode, regular gamma-ray monitoring of this source will continue. PKS 0906+015 will be added to the "LAT Monitored Sources" page
( http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/access/lat/msl_lc/ ). In consideration of the ongoing activity of this source we strongly encourage multiwavelength observations. For this source the Fermi LAT contact person is K. Sokolovsky (ksokolov[at]mpifr-bonn.mpg.de).
The Fermi LAT is a pair conversion telescope designed to cover the energy band from 20 MeV to greater than 300 GeV. It is the product of an international collaboration between NASA and DOE in the U.S. and many scientific institutions across France, Italy, Japan and Sweden.
