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We report the flux and spectral variability of PG 1553+113 on intra-night (IDV) to short-term timescales using BVRI data collected over 91 nights from 28 February to 8 November 2019 employing ten optical telescopes: three in Bulgaria, two each in India and Serbia, and one each in Greece, Georgia, and Latvia. We monitored the blazar quasi-simultaneously for 16 nights in the V and R bands and 8 nights in the V, R, I bands and examined the light curves (LCs) for intra-day flux and colour variations using two powerful tests: the power-enhanced F-test and the nested ANOVA test. The source was found to be significantly (> 99%) variable in 4 nights out of 27 in R-band, 1 out of 16 in V-band, and 1 out of 6 nights in I-band. No temporal variations in the colours were observed on IDV timescale. During the course of these observations the total variation in R-band was 0.89 mag observed. We also investigated the spectral energy distribution (SED) using B, V, R, and I band data. We found optical spectral indices in the range of 0.878+-0.029 to 1.106+-0.065 by fitting a power law to these SEDs of PG 1553+113. We found that the source follows a bluer-when-brighter trend on IDV timescales. We discuss possible physical causes of the observed spectral variability., 13 pages,8 figures, 7 tables, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

In 2021 BL Lacertae underwent an extraordinary activity phase, which was intensively followed by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration. We present the WEBT optical data in the BVRI bands acquired at 36 observatories around the world. In mid 2021 the source showed its historical maximum, with R = 11.14. The light curves display many episodes of intraday variability, whose amplitude increases with source brightness, in agreement with a geometrical interpretation of the long-term flux behaviour. This is also supported by the long-term spectral variability, with an almost achromatic trend with brightness. In contrast, short-term variations are found to be strongly chromatic and are ascribed to energetic processes in the jet. We also analyse the optical polarimetric behaviour, finding evidence of a strong correlation between the intrinsic fast variations in flux density and those in polarisation degree, with a time delay of about 13 h. This suggests a common physical origin. The overall behaviour of the source can be interpreted as the result of two mechanisms: variability on time scales greater than several days is likely produced by orientation effects, while either shock waves propagating in the jet, or magnetic reconnection, possibly induced by kink instabilities in the jet, can explain variability on shorter time scales. The latter scenario could also account for the appearance of quasi-periodic oscillations, with periods from a few days to a few hours, during outbursts, when the jet is more closely aligned with our line of sight and the time scales are shortened by relativistic effects., Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, submitted to MNRAS

We report the results of our optical (VRI) photometric observations of the TeV blazar 1ES 0806$+$524 on 153 nights during 2011-2019 using seven optical telescopes in Europe and Asia. We investigated the variability of the blazar on intraday as well as on long-term timescales. We examined eighteen intraday light curves for flux and color variations using the most reliable power-enhanced F-test and the nested ANOVA test. Only on one night was a small, but significant, variation found, in both $V$ band and $R$ band light curves. The $V-R$ color index was constant on every one of those nights. Flux density changes of around 80 % were seen over the course of these eight years in multiple bands. We found a weighted mean optical spectral index of 0.639$\pm$0.002 during our monitoring period by fitting a power law ($F_{\nu} \propto \nu^{-\alpha}$) in 23 optical ($VRI$) spectral energy distributions of 1ES 0806$+$524. We discuss different possible mechanisms responsible for blazar variability on diverse timescales., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

Context. The flat-spectrum radio quasar 4C +71.07 is a high-redshift (z = 2.172), γ-loud blazar whose optical emission is dominated by thermal radiation from the accretion disc. Aims. 4C +71.07 has been detected in outburst twice by the AGILE γ-ray satellite during the period from the end of October to mid-November 2015, when it reached a γ-ray flux of the order of F(E > 100 MeV)=(1.2 ± 0.3)×10 photons cm s and F(E > 100 MeV)=(3.1 ± 0.6)×10 photons cm s, respectively, allowing us to investigate the properties of the jet and the emission region. Methods. We investigated its spectral energy distribution by means of almost-simultaneous observations covering the cm, mm, near-infrared, optical, ultraviolet, X-ray, and γ-ray energy bands obtained by the GASP-WEBT Consortium and the Swift, AGILE, and Fermi satellites. Results. The spectral energy distribution of the second γ-ray flare (whose energy coverage is more dense) can be modelled by means of a one-zone leptonic model, yielding a total jet power of about 4 × 10 erg s. Conclusions. During the most prominent γ-ray flaring period our model is consistent with a dissipation region within the broad-line region. Moreover, this class of high-redshift, flat-spectrum radio quasars with high-mass black holes might be good targets for future γ-ray satellites such as e-ASTROGAM. © ESO 2019., AGILE is an ASI space mission developed with programmatic support by INAF and INFN. We acknowledge partial support through the ASI grant no. I/028/12/0. SV and PR acknowledge contract ASI-INAF I/004/11/0 and INAF/IASF Palermo where most of the work was carried out. SV acknowledges financial contribution from the agreement ASI-INAF no. 2017-14-H.0. Part of this work is based on archival data, software, or online services provided by the ASI SPACE SCIENCE DATA CENTER (ASI-SSDC). SV and PR thank Leonardo Barzaghi and Sara Baitieri for useful discussions. The Osservatorio di Torino team acknowledges the financial contribution from the agreement ASI-INAF No. 2017-14-H.0 and from the contract PRIN-SKA-CTA-INAF 2016. OMK acknowledges financial support from the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation under contract FR/217950/16 and grants NSFC11733001, NSFCU1531245. IA acknowledges support from a Ramón y Cajal grant of the Ministerio de Economía y Compet-itividad (MINECO) of Spain. The research at the IAA–CSIC was supported in part by the MINECO through grants AYA2016–80889–P, AYA2013–40825–P, and AYA2010–14844, and by the regional government of Andalucía through grant P09–FQM–4784. IRAM is supported by INSU/CNRS (France), MPG (Germany), and IGN (Spain). Calar Alto Observatory is jointly operated by the MPIA and the IAA-CSIC. This research was partially supported by the Bulgarian National Science Fund of the Ministry of Education and Science under grant DN 08-1/2016. The St. Petersburg University team acknowledges support from Russian Science Foundation grant 17-12-01029. AZT-24 observations are made within an agreement among the Pulkovo, Rome, and Teramo observatories. GD and OV gratefully acknowledge the observing grant support from the Institute of Astronomy and Rozhen National Astronomical Observatory, Bulgaria Academy of Sciences, via bilateral joint research project “Observations of ICRF radio-sources visible in optical domain” (PI G. Damljanovic). This work is a part of Project No. 176011 (“Dynamics and kinematics of celestial bodies and systems”), No. 176004 (“Stellar physics”) and No. 176021 (“Visible and invisible matter in nearby galaxies: theory and observations”) supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. The Maidanak Observatory team acknowledges support from Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences grants No. F2-FA-F027 and F.4-16.

At the beginning of 2013, we have a team of scientists at the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, focusing on observations and research of blazars. At the same time, we established a cooperation with the Astronomical Observatory of Torino (Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino), center for the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) international collaboration. In this paper, we describe the WEBT project, present our equipment as well as some preliminary results. We also point to some issues that we have encountered during the one year experience and found important from the observational point of view. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 176011: Dynamics and Kinematics of Celestial Bodies and Systems, br. 176021: Visible and Invisible Matter in Nearby Galaxies: Theory and Observations i br. 176004: Stellar Physics]

During the last century, there were many so-called independent latitude (IL) stations with the observations which were included into data of a few international organizations (like Bureau International de l'Heure - BIH, International Polar Motion Service - IPMS) and the Earth rotation programmes for determining the Earth Orientation Parameters - EOP. Because of this, nowadays, there are numerous astrometric ground-based observations (made over many decades) of some stars included in the Hipparcos Catalogue (ESA 1997). We used these latitude data for the inverse investigations - to improve the proper motions in declination μβ of the mentioned Hipparcos stars. We determined the corrections Δμβ and investigated agreement of our μβ and those from the catalogues Hipparcos and new Hipparcos (van Leeuwen 2007). To do this we used the latitude variations of 7 stations (Belgrade, Blagoveschtschensk, Irkutsk, Poltava, Pulkovo, Warsaw and Mizusawa), covering different intervals in the period 1904.7 - 1992.0, obtained with 6 visual and 1 floating zenith telescopes (Mizusawa). On the other hand, with regard that about two decades have elapsed since the Hipparcos ESA mission observations (the epoch of Hipparcos catalogue is 1991.25), the error of apparent places of Hipparcos stars has increased by nearly 20 mas because of proper motion errors. Also, the mission lasted less than four years which was not enough for a sufficient accuracy of proper motions of some stars (such as double or multiple ones). Our method of calculation, and the calculated μβ for the common IL/Hipparcos stars are presented here. We constructed an IL catalogue of 1200 stars: there are 707 stars in the first part (with at least 20 years of IL observations) and 493 stars in the second one (less than 20 years). In the case of μβ of IL stars observed at some stations (Blagoveschtschensk, Irkutsk, Mizusawa, Poltava and Pulkovo) we find the formal errors less than the corresponding Hipparcos ones and for some of them (stations Blagoveschtschensk and Irkutsk) even less than the new Hipparcos ones.

Context. The first release of the Gaia catalog is available since 14 September 2016. It is a first step in the realization of the future Gaia reference frame. This reference frame will be materialized by the optical positions of the sources and will be compared with and linked to the International Celestial Reference Frame, materialized by the radio position of extragalactic sources. Aim. As in the radio domain, it can be reasonably postulated that quasar optical flux variations can alert us to potential changes in the source structure. These changes could have important implications for the position of the target photocenters (together with the evolution in time of these centers) and in parallel have consequences for the link of the reference systems.Methods. A set of nine optical telescopes was used to monitor the magnitude variations, often at the same time as Gaia, thanks to the Gaia Observation Forecast Tool. The Allan variances, which are statistical tools widely used in the atomic time and frequency community, are introduced.Results. This work describes the magnitude variations of 47 targets that are suitable for the link between reference systems. We also report on some implications for the Gaia catalog. For 95% of the observed targets, new information about their variability is reported. In the case of some targets that are well observed by the TAROT telescopes, the Allan time variance shows that the longest averaging period of the magnitudes is in the range 20−70 d. The observation period by Gaia for a single target largely exceeds these values, which might be a problem when the magnitude variations exhibit flicker or random walk noises. Preliminary computations show that if the coordinates of the targets studied in this paper were affected by a white-phase noise with a formal uncertainty of about 1 mas (due to astrophysical processes that are put in evidence by the magnitude variations of the sources), it would affect the precision of the link at the level of 50 μas.

We used the data on latitude variations obtained from observations with 10 classical photographic zenith tubes (PZT) in order to improve the Hipparcos proper motions in declinations $mu_{delta} $ for 807 stars. Part of observing programmes, carried out during the last century for the purpose of studying the Earth's rotation, were realized by using PZT instruments. These observations were performed within in the intervals (tens of years) much longer than that of the Hipparcos mission (less than 4 years). In addition, the annual number of observations for every PZT-programme star is several hundreds on the average. Though the accuracy of the star coordinates in the Hipparcos Catalogue is by two orders of magnitude better than that of the star coordinates from the PZT observations, the large number of observations performed a much longer time interval makes it possible to correct the Hipparcos proper motions and to improve their accuracy with respect to the accuracy given in the Hipparcos Catalogue. Long term examinations of latitude and time variations were used to form the Earth Orientation Catalogue (EOC-2), aimed at a more accurate determination of positions and proper motions for the stars included. Our method of calculating the corrections of the proper motions in declination from the latitude variations is different from the method used in obtaining the EOC-2 Catalogue. Comparing the results we have established a good agreement between our $mu_ {delta} $ and the EOC-2 ones for the star sample used in the present paper.

Here we report on the results of the WEBT photo-polarimetric campaign targeting the blazar S5~0716+71, organized in March 2014 to monitor the source simultaneously in BVRI and near IR filters. The campaign resulted in an unprecedented dataset spanning $\sim 110$\,h of nearly continuous, multi-band observations, including two sets of densely sampled polarimetric data mainly in R filter. During the campaign, the source displayed pronounced variability with peak-to-peak variations of about $30\%$ and "bluer-when-brighter" spectral evolution, consisting of a day-timescale modulation with superimposed hourlong microflares characterized by $\sim 0.1$\,mag flux changes. We performed an in-depth search for quasi-periodicities in the source light curve; hints for the presence of oscillations on timescales of $\sim 3$\,h and $\sim 5$\,h do not represent highly significant departures from a pure red-noise power spectrum. We observed that, at a certain configuration of the optical polarization angle relative to the positional angle of the innermost radio jet in the source, changes in the polarization degree led the total flux variability by about 2\,h; meanwhile, when the relative configuration of the polarization and jet angles altered, no such lag could be noted. The microflaring events, when analyzed as separate pulse emission components, were found to be characterized by a very high polarization degree ($> 30\%$) and polarization angles which differed substantially from the polarization angle of the underlying background component, or from the radio jet positional angle. We discuss the results in the general context of blazar emission and energy dissipation models., 16 pages, 17 Figures; ApJ accepted

There are nowadays numerous astrometric ground{based observations of some stars referred to Hipparcos Catalogue, made at many observatories during the last century. We used the data on latitude variations, covering the period 1899.7 - 1979.0, of visual Zenith Telescopes (ZT) of International Latitude Service (ILS), to improve the Hipparcos proper motions in declination for stars observed at seven ILS stations: Carloforte, Cincinnati, Gaithersburg Kitab, Mizusawa, Tschardjui and Ukiah. About 15 years elapsed since the HIPPARCOS ESA mission (ESA 1997) observations (1991.25 is the epoch of this catalogue), and with the errors of the Hipparcos proper motions close to 1 mas/yr, the error of apparent places of stars is now more than 15 mas; so that it exceeds the error of the Hipparcos positions by one order of magnitude (which is about 1 mas). Also, for some Hipparcos stars, the errors of proper motions are much larger than the averaged value itself, even not realistic at all (Vondr?k et al. 1998); the Hipparcos astronomical satellite mission lasted less than four years, not enough to get a sufficient accuracy of the proper motions. To improve the accuracy of the proper motions for some Hipparcos stars, the ground-based data were used and some new catalogues were published (such as ARIHIP, EOC-2, etc) during the last decade. Our investigations are in accordance with the Earth Orientation Catalogue - EOC (Vondr?k and Ron 2003) one, based on the Earth rotation programmes ground{based data, but we used different method here. Our results yield better proper motions in declination for stars common to ILS and HIPPARCOS and a good agreement with those from EOC-2.