Renewed optical activity of the Be/X-ray binary V 0332+53/BQCam
ATel #7682; A. Camero-Arranz (IEEC/ICE), M. Caballero-Garcia (Czech Technical University), M. Ozbey-Arabaci (METU), C. Zurita (IAC) on behalf of a larger collaboration
on 21 Jun 2015; 15:13 UT
Credential Certification: Ascension Camero-Arranz (camero@ice.cat)
We report on optical observations of the binary system V 0332+53. The optical photometry was obtained with the 80-cm IAC80 telescope at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife (Spain) and with the Optical Monitoring Camera (OMC) on board the INTEGRAL satellite. They show an optical enhancement of the counterpart BQCam, with the brightness varying from the quiescence level of V=15.93±0.55 mag (2012-Jan-06 14:24:00 UT; MJD 55932.60) to V=15.332±0.008 mag (2015-Feb-01 00:57:36 UT; MJD 57054.04). This corresponds to an increment of ~0.6 mag, similar to that observed during the brightening episodes occurred e.g. in 1983 (see Goranskii et al., 2001) and in 2004 (Goranskij & Barsukova, 2004; ATel #245), but higher than the ones in 2008 (Kaur et al, 2008; ATel #1807) and 2009 (Goranskij, Barsukova & Valeev 2010; ATel #2381).
We would like to note that BQCam did not reach its maximum level (V=15.2 mag) in our observations from 2015 February. The maximum has been probably reached recently, since the Swift/BAT Hard X-ray Transient Monitor is currently detecting X-ray activity from V 0332+53 with a daily average flux of the order of 187.05 mCrab on 2015 June 21 (MJD 57194.0). Optical spectroscopical observations, as well as in other wavelengths, are encouraged to monitor the evolution of the size of the Be decretion disk and the X-ray activity from the compact object.
We would like to acknowledge to the Swift/BAT Hard X-ray Transient Monitor team for the available data for this source at their web site. This report is based on data from the OMC Archive at CAB (INTA-CSIC), pre-processed by ISDC.
