B2 1420+32
quasar in the constellation of Boötes
B2 1420+32 also known as OQ 334 and QSO B1420+326, is a flat-spectrum radio quasar in the constellation of Boötes. Its redshift is estimated as (z) 0.682 corresponding to a light travel time of 6.3 billion light years and was first detected in March 1973 as a blue stellar object. This object gained significant attention because of its renewed flaring activity, categorized as changing looking blazar and is the fourth known distant object displaying very high energy radio emission.
Description
B2 1420+32 is extremely variable on an electromagnetic spectrum. A known blazar, it is shown to undergo extreme gamma-ray activity in 2018 after a ten-year quiescent period, displaying a three-day flux of 4.79 ± 0.59 averaging a photon index of 1.96 ± 0.10. The same year in December, it reached a daily average gamma-ray flux of 1.3 ± 0.2 × 10−6 photons cm−2 s−1, making it 180 times greater than its observed flux in the four year observation period. On December 30 and 31 in 2019, the fluxes were estimated to be 0.9 ± 0.1 × 10−6 photons cm−2 s−1 and 1.7 ± 0.2 × 10−6 photons cm−2 s−1. Two near-infrared flares were observed from the object displaying a K-band flux of 14.28 ± 0.05 on June 27, 2019, and H-band flux of 12.14 ± 0.03 on March 31, 2023.
During the first month of 2020, B2 1420+32 underwent a high energy powerful gamma-ray flare, with its radio emission noted as increasing by February. In July 2021, it again underwent a flaring period, detected by astronomers at 14 and 7 milliammeter bands, who happened to observe it as part of the TELAMON program.
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This entry incorporates text from “B2 1420+32” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.