New Optical Observations of XTE J1118+480

ATel #424; C. Zurita, T. Muñoz-Darias, I. G.Martínez-Pais, J. Casares, P. Rodríguez-Gil, T. Shahbaz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias) and M. A.P. Torres, P. Zhao, D. Steeghs, M. R. Garcia (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
on 23 Feb 2005; 00:48 UT
Credential Certification: Manuel Torres (mtorres@cfa.harvard.edu)

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We report on new R-band photometry of the outbursting black hole candidate XTE J1118+480 (ATEL #383, #384) obtained with the 4.2m WHT at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma) and with the FLWO 1.2m telescope on Mt. Hopkins. We measure the following average magnitudes: Feb 20.19 (UT), R=16.94 +/- 0.06; Feb 21.18, R=17.41 +/- 0.06; Feb 21.49, R=17.58 +/-0.07; Feb 22.26, R=18.08 +/- 0.06. The data show that XTE J1118+480 continues its decline to quiescence. The previous claim of a second outburst (ATEL #412) is more likely an optical reflare or minioutburst with no X-ray counterpart like those observed in other X-ray transients such as XTE J1859+226 (Zurita et al. 2002,MNRAS,334,999).