MAXI/GSC detection of a very bright X-ray flare from Algol
ATel #11812; W. Iwakiri,, Y. Tsuboi, R. Sasaki, H. Kawai, T. Sato (Chuo U.), H. Negoro, M. Nakajima, A. Sakamaki, W. Maruyama (Nihon U.), T. Mihara, S. Nakahira, F. Yatabe, Y. Takao, M. Matsuoka (RIKEN), T. Sakamoto, M. Serino, S. Sugita, Y. Kawakubo, T. Hashimoto, A. Yoshida (AGU), N. Kawai, M. Sugizaki, Y. Tachibana, K. Morita (Tokyo Tech), S. Ueno, H. Tomida, M. Ishikawa, Y. Sugawara, N. Isobe, R. Shimomukai (JAXA), Y. Ueda, A. Tanimoto, T. Morita, S. Yamada (Kyoto U.), H. Tsunemi, T. Yoneyama, K. Asakura, S. Ide (Osaka U.), M. Yamauchi, K. Hidaka, S. Iwahori (Miyazaki U.), T. Kawamuro (NAOJ), K. Yamaoka (Nagoya U.), M. Shidatsu (Ehime U.) report on behalf of the MAXI team:
on 4 Jul 2018; 06:56 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Transients
Credential Certification: Wataru Iwakiri (wataru.iwakiri@riken.jp)
Subjects: X-ray, Binary, Star
MAXI/GSC detected a large X-ray flare from Algol at 2018-07-04 05:52 (UT) with a flux of about 300 mCrab. The spectrum can be fitted by an APEC thermal plasma model with a temperature kT > 5.5 keV. Assuming a kT of 10 keV, the estimated flux in 2 - 20 keV band is 7.0 (-1.3, +1.4) x 10-9 ergs/cm2/s (90% CL). Assuming a distance of 28.5 pc, the luminosity reached 6.8 (-1.2, +1.4) x 1032 erg/s (90% CL). This is the largest flare from Algol observed by MAXI in 8 years.
Follow-up observations are encouraged.
