Exceptionally bright state of blazar 1FGL J2322.0+3208 detected by MASTER

ATel #5218; V. Yecheistov, D. Denisenko, V. Lipunov, E. Gorbovskoy, P. Balanutsa, N. Tiurina, V. Kornilov, A. Belinski, N. Shatskiy, V. Chazov, A. Kuznetsov (Moscow State University, SAI), V. Yurkov, Y. Sergienko, D. Varda, E. Sinyakov, A. Gabovich (Blagoveshchensk Educational University), K. Ivanov, S. Yazev, N. Budnev, E. Konstantinov, O. Chuvalaev, V. Poleshchuk, O. Gress, A. Frolova (Irkutsk State University), V. Krushinsky, I. Zalozhnih, A. Popov, A. Bourdanov (Ural Federal University), A. Parkhomenko, A. Tlatov, D. Dormidontov, V. Senik (Kislovodsk solar station of the Pulkovo observatory RAS), P. Podvorotny, V. Shumkov, S. Shurpakov (MASTER team members), H. Levato, C. Saffe (ICATE), C. Mallamaci, C. Lopez and F. Podest (OAFA)
on 20 Jul 2013; 20:00 UT
Credential Certification: Vladimir Lipunov (lipunov2007@gmail.com)

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MASTER OT J232154.95+320407.4 - historical brightest state of blazar TXS 2319+317

MASTER-Amur auto-detection system discovered OT source at (RA, Dec) = 23h 21m 54.95s +32d 04m 07.4s on 2013-07-13.70260 UT. The OT unfiltered magnitude is 16.3m (limit 18.4m). The OT is seen in 8 images. We have reference image without OT on 2012-08-09.70865 UT with unfiltered magnitude limit 19.0m. The object was also observed by MASTER-Kislovodsk on 2013-07-19.89817 UT at 16.5m.

The OT is identical to quasar TXS 2319+317 aka B2 2319+31 which is a known radio and gamma-ray source 1FGL J2322.0+3208 detected by Fermi-LAT. Its redshift was determined to be z=1.489. The blazar shows large variability on the digitized Palomar plates having changed its brightness by more than 3m between 1st and 2nd POSS epochs. This is obvious in USNO-B1 catalogue data for USNO-B1.0 1220-0648964 (RA=23 21 54.980 Dec=+32 04 07.77 B1=17.92 R1=16.34 B2=20.88 R2=19.96). The comparison of BRIR and OVR color-combined DSS images is uploaded to http://master.sai.msu.ru/static/OT/J232154+320407-DSS.jpg (4'x4' FOV). POSS-I blue and red plates were taken on 1953-12-07, Quick-V plate - on 1983-10-12, POSS-II red on 1991-10-04, blue - on 1992-09-30 and infrared - on 1995-08-27.

The object is also present in SDSS as SDSS J232154.95+320407.5 with the following magnitudes: u=23.07 g=20.82 r=20.02 r=20.66 i=19.30. Thus, TXS 2319+317 = 1FGL J2322.0+3208 is currently at its historical brightest state in the optical band.

Multi-wavelength follow up observations are strongly encouraged. MASTER-Amur discovery and reference images are available at: http://master.sai.msu.ru/static/OT/232154.95320407.4.png

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