Veronica Tananko
Research Mentor(s): Jon Miller
Mentor Department: Astronomy
Authors:
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 88
Abstract
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are powered by gas accretion onto massive black holes. The gas is heated to millions of degrees as it approaches the event horizon, causing it to glow in UV and X-ray light. By analyzing the spectra and variability patterns in these bands, we can learn about the most extreme environments in the universe. Mrk 1310 is a nearby AGN in the Seyfert-1 class, which typically afford a relatively clean view of the inner accretion environment. Using NASA’s Swift telescope, we studied UV and X-ray observations of Mrk 1310 obtained in late 2024. Surprisingly, the X-ray flux appears to have dropped by an order of magnitude since 1990, when it was observed with the ROSAT telescope. Although AGN are variable, this is unusual, and may indicate a change in the geometry of the accretion flow. Over the last decade, Swift has observed Mrk 1310 on 28 occasions. We have analyzed all of these in an effort to better understand its irregular behavior.
