SMARTS Optical and IR Observations of GeV Flaring FSRQ PMN J0017-0512
ATel #5093; MacPherson, E., Hasan, I., Isler, J., Buxton, M., Bailyn, C., Coppi, P., Urry, M. (Yale University)
on 30 May 2013; 23:13 UT
Credential Certification: Michelle Buxton (buxton@astro.yale.edu)
Subjects: Infra-Red, Optical, Blazar
We report optical and near-infrared magnitudes for FSRQ PMN J0017-0512. This object was detected on 2013 May 25 (see ATel #5089) by the Fermi Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope (LAT) which reported an increased gamma-ray flux. As part of our regular blazar monitoring program, we observe blazars in optical and near-infrared bands which are reported to be in a high flux state by Fermi-LAT. We are currently observing PMN J0017-0512 in BRJK bands on a nightly cadence. On 2013 May 29, the blazar was observed under non-photometric conditions using the SMARTS 1.3 meter telescope with the ANDICAM instrument, located at CTIO in Cerro Tololo, Chile. We report the following magnitudes, based on calibration star data found in the USNO-B1.0 (opt) and 2MASS (ir) catalogs: B=16.06, R=15.47, J=13.93, and K=12.25. The optical errors are likely dominated by errors in the USNO photometry, which can be quite large. However, we estimate our errors to be +/- 0.05 mag in the near-infrared. The R band magnitude is approximately two magnitudes brighter than historical optical observations by CGraBS (Healey et al. 2008, ApJS 175, 97) which reported R=17.6. Further multi-wavelength observations are encouraged.
