Determine whether the obscuration event has ended

Determine whether 2MASS J14302580+4159572 has fully returned to an unobscured X-ray state after the decrease in ionised column density observed in the 2023–2024 Swift/XRT data, using additional temporal coverage.

Background

The joint X-ray analysis indicates that the source changed from an unobscured state in 2002–2003 to a strongly absorbed state in 2005, with the enhanced ionised column density persisting through the 2008–2022 Swift/XRT observations. The 2023–2024 Swift/XRT spectrum suggests that the column density declined, but the available uncertainties do not establish whether the absorber has disappeared completely.

Additional monitoring is therefore required to distinguish between a partial weakening of the obscurer and a full return to the unobscured state. This unresolved issue is important for determining the complete lifecycle and duration of the transient ionised obscuration event.

References

We note that, without additional temporal coverage we cannot firmly determine whether the source has fully returned to an unobscured state.

— The rise and decline of a transient obscuration event in a moderately distant type-I quasar  (2609.19910 - Akylas et al., 17 Sep 2026) in Section 5, subsection “Joint analysis of XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, and Swift/XRT spectra”