A LARGE OPTICAL AND INFRARED OUTBURST IN OJ-287

Extensive infrared observations were taken of OJ 287 in 1993/94 as par t of an on-going monitoring campaign of this object started in 1988. T he data show that this blazar reached very high levels in the infrared in Fall '94 after a continuous increase in brightness through the win ter and spring of 1993/94. The infrared fluxes registered at maximum w ere a factor of 3 higher than at any other time since our monitoring b egan. Visible monitoring shows a similar outburst, although no signifi cant activity has been observed in the radio flux curves at any freque ncy from 4.8 to 230 GHz, nor is it obvious that an outburst was seen i n X-rays. We find that there is no significant change in the spectral energy distribution in the range from 0.45 to 2.2 microns as the brigh tness increases by over two magnitudes.