Optical counterpart and a probable pulse period in IGR J01054-7253
ATel #2088; Coe M. J. (Southampton University), Bird A. J (Southampton), McBride V. A. (Southampton), Townsend L. J. (Southampton), Corbet R. H.D. (NASA/GSFC), Udalski A. (Warsaw University)
on 18 Jun 2009; 09:29 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Transients
Credential Certification: Malcolm Coe (mjcoe@soton.ac.uk)
Subjects: Optical, X-ray, Binary, Neutron Star, Pulsar
Referred to by ATel #: 2092
The new Integral source, IGR J01054-7253, in the SMC (see ATEL 2079) has been observed by the Swift Observatory on 17 June 2009. These observations reveal an accurate position for this source of RA 01:04:41.41 Dec -72:54:04.6 (2000) with a 3.6 arcsec error circle. This position lies within 3.5 arcsec of the V=14.8 star [M2002] SMC 59977. Furthermore, OGLE III data of this object reveal a very variable object in the I band, showing outbursts of ~0.8 mag lasting about 1 year, typical of Be stars in the SMC. No periodicity is apparent in the optical data.
The Swift data were taken in four segments of ~1ks each and three of the four segments show evidence for a periodicity at 17.49s, particularly the last one. Combining these three segments supports such a period at the 99.7% confidence level and the folded lightcurve reveals a single-peaked sinusoidal pulse profile. Follow-up observations by RXTE are scheduled to verify this result.
Thus we propose that IGR J01054-7253 is a new High Mass X-ray Binary in the SMC.
We are grateful to the prompt response of Swift in helping us identify this new source.
