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Photopolarimetry of 3C 66A in 2003

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Abstract

The BL Lac-type object 3C 66A was observed at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory during the international project OJ-94. Observations were made over 10 nights from February through December 2003 at the Cassegrain focus of the 125-cm AZT-11 telescope with a photopolarimeter capable of simultaneous measurements in the UBVRI bands. In the course of our measurements the brightness of the object increased by more than 1 magnitude in all these bands. Its color indices varied and the degree of polarization decreased from ∼16% in February to ∼3% at the end of our observations. In December 2003 a rapid change in the position angle from 15° to 40° was noticed. The spectral energy distribution Fn is well described by a power law with a spectral index a (Fν ∝ ν −α. The increase in brightness was accompanied by a reduction in the spectral index. The most probable mechanism for the observed changes in the brightness, degree of polarization, and spectral index may be a decrease in the magnetic field strength or a change in its configuration owing to a increase in the chaotic component of the field.

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  1. Scientific Research Institute Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Ukraine

    Yu. S. Efimov & N. V. Primak

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  1. Yu. S. Efimov
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Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 41–59 (February 2006).

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Efimov, Y.S., Primak, N.V. Photopolarimetry of 3C 66A in 2003. Astrophysics 49, 36–53 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10511-006-0004-4

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