Optical activity of the flaring gamma-ray quasar PKS 2326-502
ATel #4232; J.-P. Lenain, G. Cologna, S. Kaufmann, S. Schwemmer, S. JWagner (LSW Heidelberg), H.-J. Hagen (Sternwarte Hamburg)
on 1 Jul 2012; 18:36 UT
Credential Certification: Stefan J. Wagner (swagner@lsw.uni-heidelberg.de)
Subjects: Optical, Gamma Ray, >GeV, Request for Observations, AGN, Blazar, Quasar
We report increased optical activity of the gamma-ray and flat spectrum
radio quasar PKS2326-502.
An increased gamma-ray flux has been reported by F. D'Ammando et al.
ATEL #4225, who measured a one-day averaged flux (E>100 MeV) of
(1.4+/-0.3) x10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1 (errors are statistical only) on June 27.
Here we report an increase in the optical band which started before June 23.
Since June 23, the R-band magnitude has increased by 2.1 mag, reaching
m_R = 16.0 on July 1. The optical flux-level exceeds the one measured
during a previous GeV flare in November 2010 reported by AGILE (ATel #3008)
by more than 2.5 mag.
Using aperture photometry analysis on the source, we report here a
further increase of a factor ~2 of the 24h-binned flux of PKS 2326-502
in the 100 MeV-100 GeV range on June 28, 2012, as compared to the activity
reported by F. D'Ammando et al. in ATel #4225."
The optical data were obtained with the robotic ATOM telescope, at the
H.E.S.S. site, Namibia.
Further multi-frequency observations are encouraged.
