Continuum and line fluxes of OJ287 at minimum light

The authors report optical-infrared continuum observations of OJ 287 during its lowest recorded flux level. The spectrum was steeper than previously seen, but does not unambiguously show the presence of any underlying galaxy. It is suggested that this is primarily due to the object's still being too bright to make such a detection in this manner. The authors also report spectroscopic observations of OJ 287 showing the presence of Hα, Hβ, and [O III] emission lines. These lines confirm a redshift z = 0.306. The data are also used to compare the emitted luminosities in these lines to those of other active extragalactic objects. These lines are intrinsically underluminous compared to quasars of similar ionizing luminosities. The data are consistent with OJ 287 being deficient in gas compared to normal quasars or with the observed continuum flux having a Doppler factor of δ ≡ 4.