Increase in O/IR Brightness in the Blazar PKS 2155-304
ATel #6166; E. MacPherson, I. Hasan, M. Urry, M. Buxton, C. Bailyn, P. Coppi (Yale University), J. Isler (Syracuse U.)
on 24 May 2014; 01:22 UT
Credential Certification: Michelle Buxton (michelle.buxton@yale.edu)
Subjects: Infra-Red, Optical, Blazar
As part of our blazar monitoring campaign, SMARTS observes blazars and blazar candidates reported to be in a high flux state with the SMARTS 1.3m+ANDICAM instrument in Cerro Tololo, Chile. Recently, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected increasing GeV gamma-ray emission from a source positionally consistent with the blazar PKS 2155-304 (ATel #6148).
PKS 2155-304 was observed on UT 15 May 2014 (JD 2456793.84) during photometric conditions. The source is nearly as bright as it was during the extreme flare of December 2010. We report the following O/IR magnitudes: B_mag = 13.51, V_mag = 13.17, R_mag = 12.8, J_mag = 11.71, and K_mag = 10.26. We estimate our errors to be +/- 0.03 mag in the optical and +/- 0.05 mag in the near-infrared.
The source increased in O/IR brightness across our 5-band sample compared to the last observation on UT 6 May 2014 (JD 2456784.89): delta_B = .41, delta_V = .38, delta_R = .41, delta_J = .36, and delta_K = .56.
SMARTS has been monitoring PKS 2155-304 since 2008; we will continue to do so on a nightly cadence. Further, intensive multiwavelength monitoring of this source is highly recommended.
Yale Blazar Group Website
