Multicolour Optical Photometry of Swift J1357.2-0933 just prior to the 2019 outburst rise
ATel #12815: Vitaly Neustroev (University of Oulu), Elena Neustroeva (Oulu)
The black hole transient Swift J1357.2-0933 has recently been reported to be in a new outburst, less than 2 years after the previous one in 2017 (ATel #10297). The new outburst was first detected in the optical by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ATel #12796), and later confirmed in X-rays by NICER observations (ATel #12801). Russell et al. (ATel #12803) have reported the results of long-term optical monitoring of the transient. They found that Swift J1357.2-0933 has been in quiescence on 2019 March 19, but on March 21 its flux increase was detected. Thus, Russell et al. concluded that the optical outburst has started on MJD 58562.44 +/- 1.06.
On 2019 March 19 (MJD 58561.24+/-0.01), we observed the field of Swift J1357.2-0933 with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) equipped with the STANcam imager. Observations were performed with the Bessel B, V, R, I, and sdss z’ filters. The observations gave the following magnitudes:
B=22.05+/-0.38, V=21.23+/-0.14, R=20.59+/-0.09, I=20.11+/-0.09, sdss z’=21.0+/-0.5.
Both the obtained spectral energy distribution (SED) and all the magnitudes are consistent with those found in the PanSTARRS catalog, allowing us to conclude that at the time of our observations (MJD 58561.24), the transient has not yet shown any sign of the forthcoming outburst.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 17th, 2019 at 17:40 and is filed under Astronomy, Observations, Publications, Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.