TeV Gamma Ray Blazar Monitoring Campaign

TL;DR

This paper reports on a multi-year TeV gamma-ray monitoring campaign of blazars, particularly Markarian 421, using the Whipple Observatory telescope, providing continuous data to study variability and flaring activity in high-energy astrophysics.

Contribution

It presents the status and recent results of a long-term blazar monitoring campaign, enhancing continuous observation data for TeV gamma-ray sources.

Findings

Continuous observation of Markarian 421 over 14 years.

Detection of flaring activity and variability patterns.

Public sharing of nightly observation data for multiwavelength comparison.

Abstract

It is notoriously difficult to organize simultaneous observations from space and from the ground. This is particularly so at GeV-TeV energies where the space observations from all sky telescopes and the ground-based observations (mostly using the atmospheric Cherenkov technique). Because of observing constraints, the latter observations are limited to "snap-shots" of sources with short exposure times. For the past several years the observing program with the Whipple Observatory 10m Gamma-ray Telescope has been devoted to the observation of several bright TeV gamma-ray emitting AGN (including Markarian 421 and Markarian 501) to provide as continuous a record as possible for use in multiwavelength campaigns. The preliminary results of the nightly observations are posted each morning on the public VERITAS Webpage to facilitate comparison with observations at other wavelengths. The telescope is also used as a trigger for VERITAS and other VHE observatories where flaring activity is detected. This paper will present a status update of the current Blazar Monitoring campaign at the telescope and a summary of the most recent results obtained from November 2010 up to April 2011, which contribute to the 14-year data set representing continuous observation of Markarian 421.