X-ray flaring of Cygnus X-3
ATel #807; D. M. Palmer (LANL), H. A. Krimm (GSFC/USRA) on behalf of the Swift-BAT team
on 11 May 2006; 21:25 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Transients
Credential Certification: David M. Palmer (palmer@lanl.gov)
Subjects: Radio, X-ray, Gamma Ray, Binary, Transient
Swift-BAT finds a flare from Cygnus X-3 in the 15-50 keV band that is simultaneous with the 14 Jy radio flare reported in ATEL #806 (Pooley, 2006). The emission began rising from a low level on 2006 May 8, peaking at an intensity of approximately 100 milliCrab on May 10, and is currently declining from that level.
Cyg X-3 had been in a low state in this energy band since its 'quenching' around January 15 (ATEL #727; Tsuboi et al., 2006), apart from brief resurgences of emission between March 10-19. Prior to the quenching, it had tended to be variable within a range 100-250 mCrab during the first year of observation with Swift-BAT.
Preliminary BAT light curves for this source since the beginning of 2006 can be seen on a daily timescale at http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/other/CygX-3_11may06.png and a shorter timescale at http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/other/CygX-3_orbit_11may06.png .
