Follow-up photometry of ASASSN-14ko

DOI

We present the discovery that ASASSN-14ko is a periodically flaring active galactic nucleus at the center of the galaxy ESO 253-G003. At the time of its discovery by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN), it was classified as a supernova close to the nucleus. The subsequent 6yr of V- and g-band ASAS-SN observations revealed that ASASSN-14ko has nuclear flares occurring at regular intervals. The 17 observed outbursts show evidence of a decreasing period over time, with a mean period of P_0_=114.2+/-0.4days and a period derivative of dP/dt=-0.0017+/-0.0003. The most recent outburst in 2020 May, which took place as predicted, exhibited spectroscopic changes during the rise and had a UV bright, blackbody spectral energy distribution similar to tidal disruption events (TDEs). The X-ray flux decreased by a factor of 4 at the beginning of the outburst and then returned to its quiescent flux after ~8days. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite observed an outburst during Sectors 4-6, revealing a rise time of 5.60+/-0.05days in the optical and a decline that is best fit with an exponential model. We discuss several possible scenarios to explain ASASSN-14ko's periodic outbursts, but currently favor a repeated partial TDE. The next outbursts should peak in the optical on UT 2020 September 7.4+/-1.1 and UT 2020 December 26.5+/-1.4.

Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.19100125
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/910/125
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/910/125
Related Identifier http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/910/125
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/910/125
Provenance
Creator Payne A.V.; Shappee B.J.; Hinkle J.T.; Vallely P.J.; Kochanek C.S.,Holoien T.W.-S.; Auchettl K.; Stanek K.Z.; Thompson T.A.; Neustadt J.M.M.,Tucker M.A.; Armstrong J.D.; Brimacombe J.; Cacella P.; Cornect R.,Denneau L.; Fausnaugh M.M.; Flewelling H.; Grupe D.; Heinze A.N.,Lopez L.A.; Monard B.; Prieto J.L.; Schneider A.C.; Sheppard S.S.,Tonry J.L.; Weiland H.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2022
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Cosmology; Galactic and extragalactic Astronomy; High Energy Astrophysics; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics