NICER confirms outburst of RX J0520.5-6932 and detects coherent pulsations
ATel #16569; Rahul Sharma (RRI), Keith Gendreau (NASA/GSFC), Zaven Arzoumanian (NASA/GSFC), Elizabeth C. Ferrara (UMCP, NASA/GSFC, CRESST), Paul S Ray (NRL), Andrea Sanna (Univ. of Cagliari)
on 4 Apr 2024; 07:17 UT
Credential Certification: Rahul Sharma (rahul1607kumar@gmail.com)
Subjects: X-ray, Binary, Neutron Star, Transient, Pulsar
Referred to by ATel #: 16571
The ongoing all-sky survey of the Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC telescope onboard the SRG observatory detected the Be/X-ray binary pulsar RX J0520.5-6932, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (ATEL #16562).
NICER observed the source on April 02 at UTC 21:32:57 (MJD ~60402.9) with an exposure of ~500 s. An average count rate of ~43 counts/sec was observed in the 0.5-10 keV energy range. A strong coherent pulsation with a pulse period of ~8.02 s is evident in the NICER data. The pulse profile showed a single asymmetric pulse peak with ~20% pulse fraction. This confirms the source is active.
Further NICER observations of the source are underway. We encourage multi-wavelength observations of the source.
NICER is a 0.2-12 keV X-ray telescope operating on the International Space Station. The NICER mission and portions of the NICER science team activities are funded by NASA.
