O/IR brightening of the blazar PKS 2326-502
ATel #5524; E. MacPherson, I. Hasan, M. Urry, M. Buxton, J. Isler, C. Bailyn, P. Coppi (Yale University)
on 29 Oct 2013; 00:34 UT
Credential Certification: Michelle Buxton (michelle.buxton@yale.edu)
Subjects: Infra-Red, Optical, Blazar
As part of a long-term blazar monitoring campaign, we observe gamma-ray bright (as determined by the Fermi Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope) blazars with the SMARTS 1.3m+ANDICAM telescope in Cerro Tololo, Chile. For the past several nights, PKS 2326-502 has been brightening in the optical/IR bands, following an optical flare (ATel #5393) that peaked in O/IR on 28 September 2013 (JD 2456564.6) at R = 14.865. Since late September, this blazar decreased steadily in brightness. However, between the nights of 20 October 2013 (JD 2456586.6) and 25 October 2013 (JD 2456591.5), which were both reported to be photometric, the source brightened by delta_B = .78, delta_R = .65, delta_J = .31, and delta_K = .46. We estimate our errors to be +/- 0.03 mag in the optical and +/- 0.05 mag in the near-infrared. We will continue monitoring PKS 2326-502 and additional multi-wavelength coverage is also encouraged. Our O/IR light curves of this and other blazars can be found at: http://www.astro.yale.edu/smarts/glast/home.php
