griz photometry of 3C 454.3 following its extreme gamma-ray flare
ATel #3047; T. Krajci (AAVSO), K. Sokolovsky (MPIfR/ASC Lebedev), A. Henden (AAVSO)
on 21 Nov 2010; 16:40 UT
Credential Certification: Frank Schinzel (schinzel@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de)
Subjects: Optical, AGN, Blazar, Quasar
Following the extremely bright gamma-ray flare of the blazar 3C 454.3
detected by AGILE (ATel #3034, #3043) and Fermi/LAT (ATel #3041) we have
performed photometric observations of the source using a 28cm telescope
equipped with a SBIG ST-8 CCD camera and a set of griz (SDSS) filters.
The observations conducted on November 18/19 and 19/20, 2010, at the time of
peak daily gamma-ray flux (according to the Fermi/LAT public lightcurve),
resulted in the following:
| JD(UT) |
g |
r |
i |
z |
| 2455519.556 |
14.06 |
13.37 |
12.94 |
12.61 |
| 2455520.543 |
13.86 |
13.17 |
12.75 |
12.42 |
Accuracy of the measurements is limited by the uncertainty of the magnitude scale calibration which is expected to be less than 0.05m.
The latter observation corresponds to Rc=12.99 (Jordi, Grebel, & Ammon
2006, A&A, 460, 339) indicating the brightest optical state of the source
since early-2008 (Villata et al. 2009, A&A, 504L, 9;
ATel #2155, #2181, #2201, #2325, #2332, #2333, #2345, #2352, #2535, #3003, #3005).
We will continue photometric monitoring of 3C 454.3 until the end of the
current active period. The results of the monitoring will be available on the dedicated web-page listed below.
Dedicated Monitoring Page
