We have been participating in an international measurement campaign on the optical behaviour of blazar AO 0235+164 for a good year and a half. This campaign is coordinated by the WEBT consortium (WEBT: Whole Earth Blazar Telescope).
In recent nights, we have observed a strong and rapid increase in the brightness of this object in the R-band by more than two magnitudes.
Since this rapid increase in optical brightness is unusual for this blazar and could indicate a new phase of increased activity, we have published our observation in an Astronomer`s Telegram:
ATel #16403: Rapid increase in the optical brightness of the blazar AO 0235+164
This Astronomer`s Telegram is now the 22nd ATel published by the Hans Haffner Observatory student team.
