Optical-UV Observations of OJ 287

Session 99 - Blazars.
Display session, Thursday, January 16
Metropolitan Ballroom,

[99.04] Optical-UV Observations of OJ 287

E. S. Howard (U. Denver and SARA Obs.), J. R. Webb (Florida International U. and SARA Obs.), T. J. Balonek (Colgate U., Foggy Bottom Obs.), P. Boltwood (Boltwood Obs., Canada), S. Clements, D. Nair, A. G. Smith (U. Florida, Rosemary Hill Obs.), M. Kidger (Inst. of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, Tenerife, Spain), H. J. Lehto, T. Pursimi, A. Sillanpaa, L. O. Takalo (Tuorla Obs.), B. McCollum (CSC/IUE Obs.), E. Pian (STScI), A. Sadun (Agnes Scott Coll.), C. R. Schrader (CGRO/LHEA, GSFC, NASA), A. Treves (U. Como, Dept. of Physics), W. Wamsteker (ESA IUE Obs.)

The Blazar OJ 287 underwent and energenic optical outburst in late 1994. In reponse to this outburst we intiated a Target of Opportunity (TOO) program which utilizes several observatories, including the INTERNATIONAL ULTRAVIOLET EXPLORER (IUE) satillite, to make multifrequency observations spanning much of the electromagnetic spectrum during the outburst. These observations are combined in order to study the multifrequnecy variability of OJ 287. This paper reports on the UV-Optical data obtained during this outburst. We found that the the spectral slope in the UV was steeper than in the optical by a factor of two. The slopes were variable in both spectral bands.

We suggest that the strong curvature in the optical-UV spectrum implies that this region is very complicated, containing a number of spectral components from the jet. It is possible that the synchrotron break freqency for at least one of the components is located the near UV.

Program listing for Thursday