Gaia in the UK

Taking the Galactic Census

Observe - Alerts archive

On this page you can find the list of all Gaia Alerts which were suitable for observing with a small telescope.

Explanation of Alerts table

Alert ID: The name that was assigned to this Alert. Click on the link to see more information about the Alert.
Time: When Gaia first detected this Alert.
RA: The right ascension of the Alert (see Observing advice for more info).
Dec: The declination of the Alert.
Mag: The brightness of the Alert in Gaia magnitudes. For more information on magnitudes, see Observing advice. Note that a lower value for the magnitude means an Alert is brighter, and a higher value means it is fainter.
Classification: What sort of transient each Alert is.
Comment: Any additional information we have about why an alert is interesting, or information such as its distance.
Desired follow-up: Guidelines on what data we need from telescopes such as Faulkes for each Alert.
School: Initials of schools following-up this Alert (see Schools following-up Gaia Alerts).

Alert ID Time RA Dec Magnitude Classification Comment Desired follow-up Schoolsort ascending
Gaia16agf 27 Feb 2016, 06:41 98.53741 -25.18462 17.03 SN Ia Candidate SN, GSTEC predicts young SN Ia at -16 days ECS
Gaia18aen 17 Jan 2018, 04:16 120.71694 -30.31032 11.33 unknown bright emission line star in Galactic plane brightens by 1 magnitude

This is bright and in reach of modest telescopes - BUT only really observable from the Southern Hemisphere. We've no idea what this is - please monitor

ECS
Gaia18bdx 5 May 2018, 07:06 166.06666 50.03066 18.75 SN II candidate SN in outskirts of galaxy UGC 6129, rising ECS
Gaia16aax 26 Jan 2016, 15:55 218.57701 49.21014 18.33 AGN slowly rising transient in galaxy core

The active galactic nucleus in the centre of this galaxy has started to fade again. It's now at magnitude ~19, so lets keep an eye on it: we need images in u, g, r and i filters about every two weeks.

Gaia16ada 9 Feb 2016, 00:03 188.96784 27.93208 17.72 SN imposter transient near/in NGC4559C spatially coincident with candidate LBV with previous outbursts.

A massive star seems to be undergoing a series of outbursts which we want to monitor. The outburst has faded, but lets keep an eye on it. We'll need a 300 second exposure with the LCOGT 1-m telescopes in the r filter, every month or so. CURRENTLY BEHIND THE SUN!

Gaia16afe 21 Feb 2016, 12:31 91.78404 -45.18118 18.86 SN I-pec SN candidate offset from galaxy ESO 254- G 019 (z=0.038917) by 18 arcsec

This was a peculiar thermonuclear supernova which is very far from its host galaxy.

Gaia16ahw 11 Mar 2016, 19:21 112.57248 25.03203 17.98 SN Ia Blue transient with faint host visible in SDSS aka SN 2016ayg

This was a thermonuclear SN close to maximum brightness with magnitude. Now it's too faint to observe.

Gaia16ajr 30 Mar 2016, 18:22 88.24821 -17.86224 16.87 unknown Candidate SN

This Alert isn't visible any more (as it is behind the Sun)

Gaia16alt 23 Apr 2016, 10:05 325.74996 66.19105 16.90 YSO 1.5 mag decline in YSO V* V350 Cep

Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) sometimes have dips in brightness. We've seen such a dip in Gaia16alt, and we need ri imaging every two nights to confirm!

Gaia16apd 16 May 2016, 19:09 180.71544 44.25761 17.35 SLSN Blue transient on top of faint galaxy SDSS J120251.71+441527.4

This is a rare "superluminous supernova" from a exploding star. Unfortunately it's behind the Sun right now, so we can't follow it up!

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