High Energy Network (HEN)

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Information on the observation and analysis of stars and other objects that are sources of x-rays and gamma rays.

56 283 By Bikeman 1 week 6 days ago

Kilonova Catcher Project by GRANDMA

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Bikeman Sat, 02/13/2021 - 22:59

I'd like to promote the Kilonova-Catcher citizen science project here. This seems to be perfect for collaboration with High Energy Network observers of the AAVSO.

 

If you haven't watched it already, the second part of this AAVSO webinar

https://youtu.be/WIDxZDA2ZvY "AAVSO Webinar, with Melanie Crowson and Dr. Sarah Antier"

is a perfect introduction into this subject. The second part where Dr Sarah Antier explains this starts at around 39min  into the webinar.

 

Welcome to the High Energy Network

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
daveh Tue, 02/25/2020 - 17:48

Welcome to the AAVSO International High Energy Network Forum and the High Energy Network Observing Section. The AAVSO International High Energy Network is dedicated to the optical monitoring of high energy astrophysical phenomena in the universe. It is an expansion of the AAVSO International Gamma-Ray Burst Network which had great success in discovering and observing the optical afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).

Request to observe source of X-Ray flare (southern hemisphere)

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Bikeman Fri, 03/08/2024 - 08:22

The KiloNova Catcher (KNC) project has requested a Target Of Opportunity observation for the southern hemispehere (Gravitational Wave detectors are currently offline so this is not related to a "kilonova" trigger from LIGO/VIRGO (the main "business" of KNC), but could still be very interesting)

An interesting X-ray flare was observed by the newly launched Einstein Probe https://www.mpe.mpg.de/7867826/EinsteinProbe and floowed up by observations of by Neil Gehrels/SWIFT which conformed a source. Deep (say, 18 mag and fainter) observations in the optical are requested.

AAVSO 0313+41

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Degen1103 Sat, 02/03/2024 - 04:54

The question is about AAVSO 0313+41, well known Perseus A, or NGC 1275, or QSO B0316+413, or... In spite of noted AAVSO number, the object is not presented in VSX, unlike of such QSOs as BL Lac, MRK 421 or QSO B0954+658.

What is the reason? Large diffuse galaxy light obstructs photometry of active nucleus? Low variability? Or something other?

HEN News 02/2024 (The one with Scary Barbie in it)

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Bikeman Sun, 01/28/2024 - 20:41

Soon after the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) had recorded the optical transient ZTF20abrbeie, it became clear that this one didn't quite match any of the more frequent types of an extra-galactic transient like a supernova, Gamma Ray Burst afterglow or a common type of AGN outburst. The light curve and spectroscopy hinted that this one was very energetic, and probably of some rarer type.

HEN News 01/2024 (The one with Zooniverse and Chaos Computer Club in it)

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Bikeman Thu, 01/11/2024 - 19:55

I'd like to start a series of semi-regular (say ca once every 2 weeks) series of news for the HEN forum subscribers here...if this catches on we could also maybe have semi-regular zoom meetings later, like other observing sections have now.

This week, I'd like to draw attention to a project that allows you to contribute to the science of Gamma Ray Burst from the comfort of an armchair:

https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/amylien/burst-chaser/about/research

Observing optical transients from Astro-COLIBRI alerts

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
pbenni Tue, 11/28/2023 - 19:39

Responding to an Astro-COLIBRI alert, I imaged the unclassified optical transient AT 2023yoa in M31 using a Rc filter.  My general question about optical transients - are there any archives interested in saving an optical transient image?  I signed up for Kilonova Catcher / GRANDMA but noticed they are selective on what events they wish to archive observer images.  Are these optical transients of scientific interest?  I understand that afterglows from gravity waves, gamma ray bursts, and bright supernovas are of interest, but GWs and GRBs are difficult to capture because of the large field

Candidate optical counterpart for extragalactic neutrino event

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Bikeman Fri, 10/20/2023 - 22:21

There is a possible optical counterpart (a supernova of type Ibn) that seems consistent with a neutrino event.

https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2023uqf

 

Unfortunately the SN is quite dim  (ca 20 mag in V and R ) and fading already, so amateur observations will be difficult except for those with really huge scopes....but it might be interesting to follow events.

Here is the link to the search for related GCN circulars: https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars?query=+IC231004A&limit=100

 

Request for Complementary Observations of V404 Cygni for an Oct 14 campaign with JWST, XMM-Newton, Chandra, ALMA, the Very Large Array and GranTeCan

tjmaccarone Tue, 10/10/2023 - 14:42

On the evening of October 14 (JWST starts at 20:00 UT ), we'll have a coordinated campaign with all the telescopes above on V404 Cygni, which is a quiescent black hole X-ray binary.  It's about 16.6 in R in quiescence, and it's relatively red due to foreground extinction.  It would be great to have some folks in Europe get some additional photometry.  Hipercam on the Gran Telescopio Canarias will already be observing, but it would be good to have a backup in case of bad weather (which seems likely given forecasts for La Palma).