STARE at North Georgia (Southern Telescopes AGN Reverberation Experiment)

Abstract

The Southern Telescopes AGN Reverberation Experiment (STARE) is lead by Dr. Misty C. Bentz of Georgia State University in coordination with a consortium of telescopes and researchers worldwide. The goal of the experiment is to determine the central black hole masses for the active galactic nuclei (AGN) of four target galaxies. The target AGN were monitored from summer to autumn of 2011, and the photometric and spectroscopic data gathered by the consortium members is currently being reduced and consolidated. During the fall semester, the STARE group at North Georgia monitored two target AGN that were visible from our location. Thirteen students and faculty/staff in five observing teams monitored the targets up to 6 nights a week. We are currently reducing the photometry for more than 30 nights of observations from the fall semester. The final data reduced from each night’s observations are differential magnitude measurements through the B, V, R, I standard astronomical wide-band filters for each of the two target AGN. We present our resulting light curve, which will be consolidated with photometry from other STARE Consortium members to produce a high time resolution light curve showing brightness variations of the target AGN over the monitoring period. Faculty Adviser: Joseph Jones