Optical study of PKS B1322-110, the intra-hour variable radio source

Abstract

Observations with the Australia Telescope Compact Array revealed intra-hour variations in the radio source PKS B1322-110 (Bignall et al. 2019). As part of an optical follow-up, we obtained Gemini Halpha and Halpha continuum (HalphaC) images of the PKS B1322-110 field. A robust 19-sigma detection of PKS B1322-110 in the Halpha-HalphaC image prompted us to obtain the first optical spectrum of PKS B1322-110. With the Gemini spectrum we determine that PKS B1322-110 is a flat-spectrum radio quasar at a redshift of z=3.007 +/- 0.002. The apparent flux detected in the Halpha filter is likely to originate from HeII emission redshifted precisely on the Galactic Halpha narrow-band filter. We set upper limits on the emission measure of the Galactic plasma, for various possible cloud geometries.

References in corpus (5)

• The Micro-Arcsecond Scintillation-Induced Variability (MASIV) Survey II: The First Four Epochs
• Rapid interstellar scintillation of PKS B1257-326: two-station pattern time delays and constraints on scattering and microarcsecond source structure
• Interstellar Holography
• The intra-hour variable quasar J1819$+$3845: 13-year evolution, jet polarization structure and interstellar scattering screen properties
• Spica and the annual cycle of PKS B1322-110 scintillations

Cited by in corpus (1)

• ASKAP observations of multiple rapid scintillators reveal a degrees-long plasma filament