Optical counterpart of XTE J1709-267
ATel #262; P. G. Jonker (CfA), M. Buxton (Yale), J. E. McClintock (CfA)
on 31 Mar 2004; 20:28 UT
Credential Certification: P.G. Jonker (pjonker@cfa.harvard.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Binary, Neutron Star
We have discovered the optical counterpart to the recurrent neutron star soft
X-ray transient XTE J1709-267 (see ATEL #255) in a 900 s R band image obtained
with ANDICAM mounted on the 1.3 m telescope at CTIO on March 26, 2004. The
proposed counterpart coincides with the accurate position obtained from a Chandra
observation. It was not detected on a previous R band image with a limiting magnitude
of ~20.5 obtained with the 2.5 m INT when the source was in quiescence (see
Jonker et al. 2003). The night was photometric and the R band magnitude of the
counterpart was found to be 20.15+-0.04. From Magellan images obtained on June
1, 2003, when the source was in quescence, we find that the counterpart in the
1.3 m images is blended with a faint nearby (~0.7", R=21.56) background star.
A finder chart showing the source during outburst and the faint nearby star can
be found at http://www-xray.ast.cam.ac.uk/~peterj/Finder.1709.Outburst.ps
