Hard X-ray brightening of Ginga 1843+009 seen by Swift/BAT

ATel #769; H. Krimm (GFSC/USRA), L. Barbier (GSFC), S. Barthelmy (GSFC),J. Cummings (GSFC/ORAU), E. Fenimore (LANL), N. Gehrels (GSFC), C. Markwardt (GSFC/UMD), D. Palmer (LANL), A. Parsons (GSFC), T. Sakamoto (GSFC/ORAU), J. Tueller (GSFC)
on 21 Mar 2006; 22:21 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Transients
Credential Certification: Hans A. Krimm (krimm@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov)

Tweet

As part of its hard X-ray transient monitor program, the Burst Alert Telescope on Swift has detected a brightening of the transient X-ray pulsar Ginga 1843+009. The source first became detectable on March 4, 2006, rising to a peak daily average brightness of 0.011 +/- 0.002 counts/s/cm^2, corresponding to ~50 mCrab in the 15-50 keV band, on March 17, 2006. The highest flux seen in a single Swift pointing was 0.044 +/- 0.015 counts/s/cm^2 (220 mCrab) in a 872 s observation starting at 20:24:55 UT on March 14, 2006. The brightness of this source has since declined somewhat to ~30 mCrab on March 21, 2006.

This is the brightest reported outburst of Ginga 1843+009 and the first reported since April 29, 2005 (ATEL #472), when INTEGRAL reported detections at a level of 40 mCrab. An earlier weaker outburst was reported by INTEGRAL in May 2006 (ATEL #159).