NIR Flaring of the QSO BZU J0742+544
ATel #3261; L. Carrasco, A. Carraminana, G. Escobedo, A. Porras, E. Recillas, D. Y. Mayya. (INAOE, Mexico)
on 7 Apr 2011; 00:59 UT
Credential Certification: LUIS CARRASCO (carrasco@inaoep.mx)
Subjects: Radio, Infra-Red, Optical, Gamma Ray, >GeV, AGN, Blazar, Quasar
Following the Fermi LAT detection of a flare in Gamma Rays by Donato et al. (2011) (Atel #3196). We observed this object and now, we report the ongoing NIR flare of BZU J0742+5444 (GB6 J0742+5444) an intermediate redshift quasar (z=0.72). On March 17th, 2011 (JD 2455637.750324), we detected a rather strong NIR source coincident with the radio position. We determined the flux from this object to correspond to H = 12.591 +/- 0.05. That is 2.1 mag brighter than the flux value reported in the 2mass survey corresponding to H = 14.705 +/- 0.08. Henceforth, this QSO has had a significant increase in flux by a factor of almost 7 in this lapse. We have incorporated this object into our NIR monitoring program of Gamma Ray bright AGNs. Our observations were carried out with the 2.1m telescope of the Guillermo Haro Observatory of the National Institute for Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (Mexico), equipped with the instrument CANICA a NIR camera. We encourage further multi wavelength coverage of this object.
