PKS 2345-16 rapid brightening

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Fri, 09/27/2019 - 19:09

I observed it last night at vis=15.6, first time I've seen it this bright in 2 years of observations. This is a very distant and interesting flat-spectrum QSO. At 5.6 Gly, experiencing its photons impinging on my retina, and knowing when they were created, our sun and solar system hadn't even formed yet from a molecular gas cloud!

Mike

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Tonite my visual observation

Tonite my visual observation puts it at 15.1 so it's still on a brightening trend, may get to its prior recorded maximum, around 14.8. I read about people using the SA100 spectro, and this object might make an interesting target, if one has sufficient aperture. With a z=0.58, the spectrum would be quite shifted indeed, deep blue lines into the deep red!

Mike