Photopolarimetry of 3C 66A in 2003 |
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Authors: | Yu. S. Efimov N. V. Primak |
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Affiliation: | (1) Scientific Research Institute Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Ukraine |
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Abstract: | The BL Lac-type object 3C 66A was observed at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory during the international project OJ-94. Observations were made over 10 nights from February through December 2003 at the Cassegrain focus of the 125-cm AZT-11 telescope with a photopolarimeter capable of simultaneous measurements in the UBVRI bands. In the course of our measurements the brightness of the object increased by more than 1 magnitude in all these bands. Its color indices varied and the degree of polarization decreased from ∼16% in February to ∼3% at the end of our observations. In December 2003 a rapid change in the position angle from 15° to 40° was noticed. The spectral energy distribution Fn is well described by a power law with a spectral index a (Fν ∝ ν −α . The increase in brightness was accompanied by a reduction in the spectral index. The most probable mechanism for the observed changes in the brightness, degree of polarization, and spectral index may be a decrease in the magnetic field strength or a change in its configuration owing to a increase in the chaotic component of the field. __________ Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 41–59 (February 2006). |
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Keywords: | blazars polarimetry photometry-individual 3C 66A |
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