August 24, 2007: The campaign to monitor blazars as described in AAVSO Alert Notice 353 continues, and observations of any and all of the ten targets are welcomed. The VERITAS telescope is currently in standby while the Arizona monsoon season progresses, but the rainy season typically ends in late August or early September. Please observe these objects now to familiarize yourself with the fields and to establish a recent baseline of behavior for future analysis.
A flare in 3C 66A was detected by a single AAVSO observer (Robert James, Las Cruces, NM, USA) on August 16-18 UT. This observation was independently confirmed by professional follow-ups. VERITAS observations were not obtained due to weather conditions, but this event is a good example of the type of behavior to expect from the blazars under observation.
As with many campaigns, both initial *and* confirming observations by multiple observers are still needed to trigger the observations, and we urge as many observers as possible to participate in this campaign.
If you are observing with a CCD and have V or Rc filters, please use filters when imaging. Unfiltered CCD and visual observers please observe as you normally would. Time series observations are not required; all that is needed to trigger VERITAS and XMM-Newton are confirmed detections of any of these objects at or above the given thresholds.
The following is the list of target names, designations, and thresholds for this campaign:
Simbad name AAVSO name Desig R(trig.) V(trig.) ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1ES0033+595 1ES0033+59 0030+59 14.5 Rc 14.9 V 1ES0806+524 1ES0806+52 0802+52 14.5 Rc 14.9 V Mrk 1218 MRK 1218 0832+25 12.5 Rc 12.9 V 1ES1627+402 1ES1627+40 1625+40 16.5 Rc 16.9 V 3C 66A 3C 66A 0216+42 13.7 Rc 14.1 V BL Lac BL LAC 2158+41 12.8 Rc 13.2 V W Com W COM 1216+28 13.7 Rc 14.1 V 1ES0120+340 1ES0120+34 0117+33 14.4 Rc 14.8 V 1ES0647+250 1ES0647+25 0644+25 14.0 Rc 14.4 V 1H 0323+342 1H0323+342 0318+33 15.0 Rc 15.4 V More complete details on the campaign and its requirements are available in Alert Notice353, at the following URL:http://www.aavso.org/publications/alerts/alert353.shtmlThis Special Notice was prepared by Matthew Templeton. -------------------------------------------------
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