Bibcode
in't Zand, J. J. M.; Bazzano, A.; Cocchi, M.; Cornelisse, R.; Heise, J.; Kuiper, L.; Kuulkers, E.; Markwardt, C. B.; Muller, J. M.; Natalucci, L.; Smith, M. J. S.; Strohmayer, T. E.; Ubertini, P.; Verbunt, F.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.355, p.145-154 (2000)
Advertised on:
3
2000
Journal
Citations
29
Refereed citations
22
Description
Four or five new outbursts were detected of the bright X-ray transient
GRS 1747-312 in the globular cluster Terzan 6 between 1996 and 1999,
through monitoring campaigns with the Wide Field Cameras (WFCs) on
BeppoSAX and the Proportional Counter Array (PCA) on RossiXTE. This is
the first time that the source is seen to exhibit recurrent outbursts
after the discovery in September 1990 with ART-P on Granat. Three
target-of-opportunity observations in 1998 and 1999, with the
narrow-field instruments on BeppoSAX and the PCA, revealed one sharp
drop in the flux which we identify as an eclipse of the compact X-ray
source by the companion star. A detailed analysis of WFC data identifies
further eclipses and we measure the orbital period at 12.360+/-0.009 hr.
This is consistent with an identification as a low-mass X-ray binary, as
suggested already by the association with a globular cluster. The
eclipse duration is 0.72+/-0.06 hr. This implies that the inclination
angle is larger than 74°. The 0.1-200 keV unabsorbed peak luminosity
is 7*E36 erg s-1. The nature of the compact object
is unclear.