Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21642010m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #216, #420.10
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Since May 2009 we have monitored a sample of 20 Fermi-detected BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) in white light using the 0.76 m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) at Lick Observatory, with a time resolution of roughly three days. These objects were selected for their lack of spectroscopic redshifts, as observations during a quiescent state can be used to trigger spectroscopic follow-up observations; if the non-thermal continuum becomes sufficiently faint, it should be possible to detect emission lines or absorption lines. In addition, we have used Fermi data to obtain weekly gamma-ray light curves of these BL Lacs during the period of optical monitoring for cross-correlation purposes. We detect significant optical variability in all of the BL Lac light curves and describe our search for correlations between gamma-ray and optical variability. We have found that KAIT is a highly effective instrument for measuring blazar variability on both short and long time scales in an automated fashion. KAIT shows great promise for future, more ambitious studies of optical blazar variability. This research was funded by NASA grant NNX08AW30G, NSF grant AST-0908886, the Sylvia and Jim Katzman Foundation, and the TABASGO Foundation.
Filippenko Alexei V.
Li Wangrong
Lott Benoit
Meisner Aaron M.
Romani Roger W.
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