SGR1900+14
ATel #24; C. Kouveliotou, Universities Space Research Association, P. Woods, M. Kippen, M. S. Briggs, University of Alabama in Huntsville, K. Hurley, Space Sciences Laboratory
on 3 Jun 1998; 01:21 UT
Credential Certification:
Subjects: Gamma Ray, Soft Gamma-ray Repeater
Referred to by ATel #: 26
On May 30th, BATSE triggered on an extremely intense outburst from
this source that comprised at least 38 bursts of varying intensity and
duration; the series of bursts started at 32624 s UT, and lasted for
about 350s. The peak flux of each of the three major bursts in the
series is 1.1x10e-4 ergs/cm^2 s (between 25-300 keV, integrated for
128 ms). Assuming a distance of about 12 kpc for SGR 1900+14 (F. Vrba
et al., ApJ 468, 225 1996), this corresponds to a luminosity of about
2x10e42 ergs/s for each burst. This bunching of emission is very
similar to the behaviour of SGR 1806-20, as detected with the Rossi
X-Ray Timing Explorer in 1996 (C. Kouveliotou, et al, IAUC
# 6503 ). Overall, between May 26 and June 1st, we have detected over 50
bursts from SGR 1900+14. The frequency and intensity of emissions are
unlike any previously seen behaviour from this source. We strongly
encourage follow up observations in infra-red and radio wavelengths,
while the source is still active.
