| Issue |
A&A
Volume 530, June 2011
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | A129 | |
| Number of page(s) | 9 | |
| Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201016033 | |
| Published online | 24 May 2011 | |
On the influence of the Sun on the rapid variability of compact extragalactic sources
1
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
e-mail: marchili@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
2
Urumqi Observatory, the National Astronomical Observatories, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, PR China
Received: 30 October 2010
Accepted: 16 March 2011
Since December 2004, we have performed a program to monitor intraday variable sources at a frequency of 5 GHz at the Urumqi Observatory. We present our analysis of the variability characteristics of the flat-spectrum radio source AO 0235+164, which detects an annual cycle in the variability amplitude. This appears to correlate with the solar elongation of the source. A thorough analysis of the results of the MASIV IDV survey – which provides the variability characteristics of a large sample of compact radio sources – confirms that there is a small but detectable component of the observed fractional modulation that increases with decreasing solar elongation. We discuss the hypothesis that the phenomenon is related to interplanetary scintillation.
Key words: scattering / quasars: individual: AO 0235+164 / radio continuum: general / solar wind / surveys
© ESO, 2011
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