OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS OF GAMMA-RAY BLAZAR CANDIDATES. V. TNG, KPNO, AND OAN OBSERVATIONS OF BLAZAR CANDIDATES OF UNCERTAIN TYPE IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, I-10125 Torino (Italy)
- INAF—Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Bologna, via Gobetti 101, I-40129, Bologna (Italy)
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università Roma Tre, via della Vasca Navale 84, I-00146, Roma (Italy)
- INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via Emilio Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate (Italy)
- Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Óptica y Electrónica, Apartado Postal 51-216, 72000 Puebla, México (Mexico)
- Harvard—Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apdo. Postal 877, Ensenada, 22800 Baja California, México (Mexico)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino, I-10125 Torino (Italy)
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia (Italy)
The extragalactic γ-ray sky is dominated by emission from blazars, a peculiar class of active galactic nuclei. Many of the γ-ray sources included in the Fermi-Large Area Telescope Third Source catalog (3FGL) are classified as blazar candidates of uncertain type (BCUs) because there are no optical spectra available in the literature to confirm their nature. In 2013, we started a spectroscopic campaign to look for the optical counterparts of the BCUs and of the unidentified γ-ray sources to confirm their blazar nature. Whenever possible we also determine their redshifts. Here, we present the results of the observations carried out in the northern hemisphere in 2013 and 2014 at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, Kitt Peak National Observatory, and Observatorio Astronómico Nacional in San Pedro Mártir. In this paper, we describe the optical spectra of 25 sources. We confirmed that all of the 15 BCUs observed in our campaign and included in our sample are blazars and we estimated the redshifts for three of them. In addition, we present the spectra for three sources classified as BL Lacs in the literature but with no optical spectra available to date. We found that one of them is a quasar (QSO) at a redshift of z = 0.208 and the other two are BL Lacs. Moreover, we also present seven new spectra for known blazars listed in the Roma-BZCAT that have an uncertain redshift or are classified as BL Lac candidates. We found that one of them, 5BZB J0724+2621, is a “changing look” blazar. According to the spectrum available in the literature, it was classified as a BL Lac, but in our observation we clearly detected a broad emission line that led us to classify this source as a QSO at z = 1.17.
- OSTI ID:
- 22520018
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (Online), Vol. 151, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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