Fermi LAT detection of gamma ray activity from blazar PKS 0208-512
ATel #3338; A. Szostek (Stanford/SLAC), on behalf of the Fermi Large Area Telescope Collaboration
on 11 May 2011; 16:41 UT
Credential Certification: Anna Szostek (aszostek@slac.stanford.edu)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, AGN, Transient
The Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of the two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has observed an increased gamma-ray activity from the source positionally coincident with PKS 0208-512 (RA: 02h 10m 46.2004s, DEC: -51d 01m 01.891s (J2000); Andrei et al. 2009, A&A, 505, 385). This is a flat spectrum radio quasar known also as 1FGL J0210.6-51013 (Abdo et al. 2010, ApJS, 188, 405) and 3EG J0210-5055 (Hartman et al. 1999, ApJS, 123, 79), with a redshift 0.999 (Wisotzki et al. 2000, A&A, 358, 77).
Preliminary analysis indicates that the source on May 9, 2011 was in a high state with a gamma-ray flux (E>100 MeV) of (1.1 +/- 0.3) x 10^-6 photons/cm^2/s (statistical uncertainty only) which represents an almost order of magnitude increase over the average flux reported in the first Fermi-LAT catalog (1FGL, Abdo et al. 2010, ApJS, 188, 405). A previous gamma-ray flare from this source at a slightly lower flux was observed by LAT on October 3, 2008 (ATel #1759).
Since Fermi operates in an all-sky scanning mode, regular monitoring of this source will continue. In consideration of the ongoing activity of this source we strongly encourage multiwavelength observations. The Fermi LAT contact person is W. Collmar (wec@mpe.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.
