Bibcode
DOI
Oscoz, A.; Alcalde, D.; Serra-Ricart, M.; Mediavilla, E.; Muñoz, J. A.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 573, Issue 1, pp. L1-L4.
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7
2002
Journal
Citations
11
Refereed citations
11
Description
We report an increase of more than 0.2 mag in the optical brightness of
the leading image (A) of the gravitational lens Q0957+561, detected
during the 2000 September to 2001 June monitoring campaign (2001
observing season). The brightening is similar to or even greater than
the largest change ever detected during the 20 yr of monitoring of this
system. We discuss two different provisional explanations of this event:
intrinsic source variability or microlensing (either short-timescale
microlensing or cessation of the historical microlensing). An exhaustive
photometric monitoring of Q0957+561 is needed until the summer of 2002
and during 2003 to discriminate between these possibilities.