FSRQ BZUJ0742+5444 in Low Optical State
ATel #5703; S. B. Cenko (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center), R. W. Romani (Stanford Univ.), W. Zheng, A. V. Filippenko (UC Berkeley)
on 27 Dec 2013; 20:32 UT
Credential Certification: S. Bradley Cenko (cenko@astro.berkeley.edu)
Subjects: Optical, AGN, Blazar, Quasar
Referred to by ATel #: 6075
We report that the flat spectrum radio quasar BZU J0742+5444 (also detected by the Large Area Telescope on Fermi) has entered a state of diminished optical activity. In our most recent measurement obtained with the 0.76-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) at Lick Observatory on 10:05 UT on 2013 Dec. 22, we measure a magnitude of 19.29 +/- 0.20 (clear filter, calibrated with respect to nearby USNO-B1 stars in the R band). In regular monitoring with KAIT over the last three years, this is the weakest optical emission we have observed from this source, down from a peak of 14.58 +/- 0.02 mag on 2011 Feb. 13. We encourage follow-up optical spectroscopy to attempt to further constrain its redshift (e.g., Shaw et al., 2013, AJ, 146, 127).
The full light curve of BZU J0742+5444, as well as of the other 162 Fermi blazars monitored by KAIT, can be found at the following website: http://hercules.berkeley.edu/kait-agn/.
