Speaker
Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> award (Yes / No)?
Yes
Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?
Yes
Please indicate whether<br>this abstract may be<br>published online<br>(Yes / No)
Yes
Level for award<br> (Hons, MSc, <br> PhD, N/A)?
MSc
Abstract content <br> (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>
Blazars are known to show large-scale multi-wavelength variability on the order of days to years. This variability often manifests as rapid flares that can show correlation over a broad wavelength range. Since flares happen suddenly rapid, follow-up observations must be scheduled if a more detailed multi-wavelength observation campaign is to be started. We report on the long term optical photometric monitoring of a selection of known and candidate TeV blazars observed with the Watcher Robotic Telescope since December 2014 in the V, R and i filters. In particular, we present results of five well known sources PKS 1510-089, AP Librae, PG 1553+113, PKS 2005-489, PKS 2155-304. A reduction pipeline is currently in development to help identify potential sources for rapid follow-up multi-wavelength observations and provide optical lightcurves to complement multi-wavelength observations. During the observation period PKS 1510-089 showed 2 outburst and a Δ(V) ~ 1.7 mag. PKS 2155-304 showed a Δ(V) 1 magnitude difference and a steady increase in magnitude. PG 1553+113 exhibits an outburst with a total magnitude change of Δ(V) ~ 0.6, while PKS 2005-489 presents one outburst (~0.5 mag) in all the filters during the middle of the campaign. No flare events were observed for AP Librae.
Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution
Dr Brian van Soelen
VanSoelenB@ufs.ac.za
UFS
