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 Magnitudesort descending Classification Comment Desired follow-up School
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!

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
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!

Gaia17bnk 13 Jun 2017, 01:14 95.65247 -38.56183 17.46 CV Candidate CV, 2mag rise in UV source GALEXASC J062236.61-383342.9, Gaia & CRTS have prior outbursts

We think this is a cataclysmic variable and we want to measure its orbital period. Continuous monitoring for 2 - 3 hours in a single filter (e.g. g or r) will show how the brightness varies with time and from that we can work out the binary period.

 

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!

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.

Gaia16bic 17 Sep 2016, 07:31 122.55712 33.95713 18.00 SN II candidate SN in grand design spiral galaxy NGC 2532

We don't know what type of SN this is yet, but it should be visible at mag~18 at the very end of the night.

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.

Gaia18bdx 5 May 2018, 07:06 166.06666 50.03066 18.75 SN II candidate SN in outskirts of galaxy UGC 6129, rising ECS
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.

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