Issue |
A&A
Volume 378, Number 2, November I 2001
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | L37 - L40 | |
Section | Letters | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20011207 | |
Published online | 15 November 2001 |
Discovery of the X-ray burster SAX J1752.3-3138
1
Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale (), via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy
2
Space Research Organization Netherlands , Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 CA Utrecht, The Netherlands
3
Astronomical Institute, Utrecht University, PO Box 80000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
Corresponding author: M. Cocchi, wood@ias.rm.cnr.it
Received:
19
July
2001
Accepted:
28
August
2001
During a 50 ks monitoring observation of the Galactic bulge performed in September 1999
by the Wide Field Cameras on board the BeppoSAX satellite, an X-ray burst was
detected from a sky position ~ off the Galactic centre.
No previously known X-ray sources are located within the position error circle of the
observed burst.
The new burster, SAX J1752.3-3138, did not show any persistent emission during the
whole observation. No other bursting events, as well as steady emission, were reported
so far by other instruments or detected in the WFC archive, which covers ~6 Ms and
~4 Ms for burst and persistent luminosity detection, respectively, starting from
August 1996. Unless the source is a very weak transient, this could indicate
SAX J1752.3-3138 is an atypical burster, a member of a possibly new class of sources
characterised by very low steady luminosities and accretion rates
(
) and extremely rare bursting activity.
The characteristics of the detected burst are consistent with a type I event, identifying
the source as a weakly magnetised neutron star in a low-mass X-ray binary system.
Evidence for photospheric radius expansion due to Eddington-limited burst
luminosity allows to estimate the distance to the source (~9 kpc).
Key words: binaries: close / stars: neutron / stars: individual: SAX J1752.3-3138 / X-rays: bursts
© ESO, 2001
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