MAGIC discovers VHE gamma-ray emission from the blazar 1ES 1727+502
ATel #3774; Mose Mariotti (INFN and Univ. of Padova) on behalf of the MAGIC Collaboration
on 19 Nov 2011; 14:19 UT
Credential Certification: Mosè Mariotti (mariotti@pd.infn.it)
Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, TeV, VHE, AGN, Blazar
The MAGIC Collaboration reports the discovery of Very High Energy
(VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the BL Lac object 1ES
1727+502 (also known as OT546) with redshift z=0.055.
The source was selected from the compilation of Costamante, L. & Ghisellini, G. 2002,
A&A, 384, 56.
Previous observations with the single MAGIC-I telescope
yielded an upper limit on the level of 11.8% of the Crab Nebula flux
above 140 GeV (J. Aleksic et al. (MAGIC Coll.), Astrophys. J. 729
(2010) 115).
A total observation time of 12.5 hours was collected
between 2011 May 6th to June 10th in stereoscopic mode with the two
17 m diameter imaging Cherenkov telescopes on La Palma, Canary Islands,
Spain. The preliminary analysis of this data using the standard
analysis chain yields a detection of 76 gamma-rays above 150 GeV,
corresponding to a statistical significance of 5 standard deviations.
The observed flux is estimated to be (1.7+/-0.6)% of the Crab Nebula
flux above 150 GeV, well below the previous upper limit. Errors are
statistical only.
Questions regarding the MAGIC observations should be
directed to Mose Mariotti (mose.mariotti@pd.infn.it).
