Near-IR Observations of the Position of SGR 0418+5729
ATel #2164; S. Wachter, C. R. Gelino, D. M. Gelino (Caltech), P. Woods (Dynetics), C. Kouveliotou (NASA/MSFC), E. Gogus (Sabanci Univ.)
on 18 Aug 2009; 19:01 UT
Credential Certification: Peter Woods (Peter.Woods@dynetics.com)
Subjects: Infra-Red, Neutron Star, Soft Gamma-ray Repeater, Pulsar
Referred to by ATel #: 2169
We observed the location of SGR 0418+5729 with WIRC on the Palomar 5m Hale
telescope on 2009 August 2. We obtained a 26 minute Ks band image of the field.
Two sources with Ks = 18.8 +/-0.1 and Ks = 17.66 +/-0.04 are detected within
the refined Swift error circle of Cummings et al. (Atel #2127). However, the
Chandra HRC position reported by Woods et al. (Atel #2159) is sufficiently
offset from this Swift position as to exclude both of these sources. No obvious
source is detected inside the Chandra HRC error circle. Possibly a third, very
faint source is seen at the southwestern edge of the error circle. This source
is at the detection limit with Ks = 21.6 +/-1.3 and cannot be reliably
distinguished from a noise spike in the background. Our Ks band image overlayed
with the various X-ray localizations can be found at http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/wachter/sgr/sgr0418.html
