The Timescales of the Optical Variability of Blazars. V. 3C 371

摘要

Optical photometric observations of the blazar 3C 371 are presented as part of an ongoing study of variations in blazars occurring on timescales of minutes to hours, which has been termed microvariability. The observations presented here provide further evidence of the classwide nature of this phenomenon. Timescales as short as these provide important clues about the nature of blazars, and a discussion of the types of possible mechanisms responsible for producing these variations is given.