Optical Spectroscopy of Swift J1741.5-6548
ATel #4919; S. B. Cenko (UC Berkeley), J. Greiner (MPE Garching), and H. A. Krimm (CRESST/GSFC/USRA)
on 26 Mar 2013; 22:22 UT
Credential Certification: S. Bradley Cenko (cenko@astro.berkeley.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Binary, Transient
We obtained optical spectra of the counterpart (ATEL #4906) of the high-energy transient Swift J1741.5-6548 (ATEL #4902) with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) mounted on the 8 m Gemini South telescope. Observations began at 8:40 UT on 2013 Mar 24 and cover the wavelength range from 4000 - 8200 A.
Super-imposed on a strong blue continuum (ATEL #4906), we identify emission lines corresponding to H-alpha, He I, H-beta, He II, and the Bowen C III / N III blend, all consistent with zero redshift. The lines are all modestly resolved in our low-resolution spectrum, with full-width at half-maxima of hundreds of km per s. This confirms the Galactic nature of this source, as suspected by past detections at high-energies from MAXI (ATEL #4911). No obvious absorption features are present, so we are unable to identify the counterpart of this presumed low-mass X-ray binary.
