Discovery of a GeV Blazar Shining Through the Galactic Plane

Publication Title

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Document Type

Article

Abstract/Description

The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) discovered a new gamma-ray source near the Galactic plane, Fermi J0109+6134, when it flared brightly in 2010 February. The low Galactic latitude (b = -1fdg2) indicated that the source could be located within the Galaxy, which motivated rapid multi-wavelength follow-up including radio, optical, and X-ray observations. We report the results of analyzing all 19 months of LAT data for the source, and of X-ray observations with both Swift and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We determined the source redshift, z = 0.783, using a Keck Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer observation. Finally, we compiled a broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) from both historical and new observations contemporaneous with the 2010 February flare. The redshift, SED, optical line width, X-ray absorption, and multi-band variability indicate that this new GeV source is a blazar seen through the Galactic plane. Because several of the optical emission lines have equivalent width 〉5 Å, this blazar belongs in the flat-spectrum radio quasar category.

Department

Physics and Astronomy

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/718/2/L166

Volume

718

Issue

166

ISSN

2041-8213

Date

8-1-2010

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