Near-IR brightening of the blazar CTA 102 (2230+114) observed by the GASP
ATel #4163; M. I. Carnerero (INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Italy and Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Spain and Departamento de Astrofisica, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain), J. A. Acosta-Pulido, M. J. Arevalo, A. Bueno (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Spain and Departamento de Astrofisica, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain), A. I. Gonzalez (Departamento de Astrofisica, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain), I. Puerto-Gimenez (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Spain and European Space Astronomy Centre, Villanueva de la Canada, Spain), C. M. Raiteri and M. Villata (INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Italy), for the GASP Collaboration
on 12 Jun 2012; 07:27 UT
Credential Certification: Claudia M. Raiteri (raiteri@oato.inaf.it)
Subjects: Infra-Red, AGN, Blazar, Quasar
The GLAST-AGILE Support Program (GASP) of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) reports on the recent observation of a strong near-IR brightening of the gamma-loud quasar CTA 102.
This is one of the 28 blazars for which the GASP performs a long-term, multiwavelength monitoring.
Observations performed at the Teide Observatory on 2012 June 5.2 UT revealed J = 14.02 +/- 0.02, H = 13.19 +/- 0.02, and Ks = 12.36 +/- 0.02, compared to J = 15.42 +/- 0.04, H = 14.99 +/- 0.04, and Ks = 14.30 +/- 0.06 measured on 2011 December 5.9 UT. We notice a strong colour change, according to a redder-when-brighter trend.
The above data confirm and extend in both frequency and time the optical flux increase reported by ATel #4141.
