Open AccessInfrared variability properties of the blazar 3C 279
Author(s) -
Fan J. H.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02767.x
Subject(s) - physics , blazar , astrophysics , infrared , light curve , spectral index , correlation coefficient , correlation , magnitude (astronomy) , astronomy , spectral line , statistics , gamma ray , geometry , mathematics
The long‐term (about 27 years) near‐infrared K light curve is constructed from the published literature for the blazar 3C 279. The Jurkevich method is adopted to analyse the periodicity, and a strong 7.1±0.44 yr period is found, suggesting that the next near‐infrared outburst will occur in 2002/03. The correlation between colour index (spectral index) and magnitude is discussed, and a significant correlation between ( J − H ) and K is found with a correlation coefficient r =0.72 ( p =2.0×10 −10 ), which is consistent with Brown et al.’s proposal.