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Fermi LAT Detection of a New Gamma-ray Source Associated with High-Redshift Blazar PKS 0438-43

ATel #9854; C. C. Cheung (Naval Research Laboratory), on behalf of the Fermi Large Area Telescope Collaboration
on 13 Dec 2016; 15:45 UT
Credential Certification: Teddy Cheung (ccheung@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov)

Subjects: Gamma Ray, >GeV, AGN, Blazar, Transient

Referred to by ATel #: 14446, 14468, 15027, 15028

The Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has observed strong gamma-ray emission from a source positionally consistent with the flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS 0438-43 with coordinates R.A. = 70.0715829 deg, Decl. = -43.5523894 deg (J2000; Johnston et al. 1995 AJ 110, 880) at redshift, z=2.852 (Morton et al. 1978 MNRAS 185, 735). This source is not in any published LAT catalog and was not detected by AGILE or EGRET.

Preliminary analysis indicates that the source was detected in gamma rays on 2016 Dec 11 with a daily-averaged flux (E > 100 MeV) of (1.1+/-0.2) x10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1 with a single power-law photon index of 2.3+/-0.2 (errors are statistical only).

Because Fermi operates in an all-sky scanning mode, regular gamma-ray monitoring of this source will continue and its light curve will be available at the Fermi Science Support Center page (see http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/access/lat/msl_lc/ ). In consideration of the activity of this source we encourage multiwavelength observations. For this source the Fermi-LAT contact person is C. C. Cheung (Teddy.Cheung at nrl.navy.mil).

The Fermi LAT is a pair conversion telescope designed to cover the energy band from 20 MeV to greater than 300 GeV. It is the product of an international collaboration between NASA and DOE in the U.S. and many scientific institutions across France, Italy, Japan and Sweden.