Swift follow-up of the flaring NLSy1 1H 0323+342

ATel #5352; Filippo D'Ammando (INAF-IRA Bologna), Bryce Carpenter (Catholic U.), Roopesh Ojha (NASA/GSFC/ORAU) on behalf of the Fermi Large Area Telescope Collaboration
on 1 Sep 2013; 06:06 UT
Credential Certification: Monica Orienti (orienti@ira.inaf.it)

Tweet

Following the gamma-ray flaring activity of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0323+342 (also known as 2FGL J0324.8+3408; Nolan et al. 2012, ApJS, 199, 31) detected by Fermi LAT on 2013 August 28 (ATel #5344), a Swift target of opportunity observation was performed on August 30.

Swift/XRT data were taken in Photon Counting mode for a total exposure of about 2.0 ksec. The X-ray spectrum (0.3-10 keV) can be fit by an absorbed power law model with an HI column density consistent with the Galactic value in the direction of the source (n_H = 1.27 x 10^21 cm^-2, Kalberla et al. 2005, A&A, 440, 775) and a photon index of 1.7+/-0.1. The corresponding observed 0.3-10 keV flux is (2.7+/-0.2) x10^-11 erg cm^-2 s^-1. This flux is 60% higher than that observed by Swift/XRT on 2013 August 21, (1.7+/-0.1) x10^-11 erg cm^-2 s^-1, and a factor of 3 higher than that observed on 2013 February 15, (8.9+/-0.5) x10^-12 erg cm^-2 s^-1.

Simultaneous Swift/UVOT observations on 2013 August 30 found 1H 0323+342 at the same level of activity as the UVOT observations performed on August 21, and about 0.3 mag brighter in V-band (V = 15.53+/-0.03), 0.3 mag brighter in W1-band (W1 = 15.51+/-0.03), and 0.4 mag brighter in W2-band (W2 = 15.74+/-0.03) compared to the UVOT observations performed on February 15.

In consideration of the ongoing activity of this source, confirmed also by the Swift observations, we encourage further multiwavelength observations. For this source the Fermi LAT contact person is Bryce Carpenter (carpbr01@gmail.com).

We would like to thank the Swift Team for making these observations possible, in particular C. J. Mountford as Swift Observatory Duty Scientist.