Bibcode
de Ugarte Postigo, A.; Castro-Tirado, A. J.; Gorosabel, J.; Fatkhullin, T. A.; Sokolov, V. V.; Jelínek, M.; Sluse, D.; Ferrero, P.; Kann, D. A.; Klose, S.; Bremer, M.; Winters, J. M.; Nurenberger, D.; Pérez-Ramírez, D.; Guerrero, M. A.; French, J.; Melady, G.; Hanlon, L.; McBreen, B.; Aceituno, F. J.; Cunniffe, R.; Kubánek, P.; Vitek, S.; Schulze, S.; Wilson, A. C.; Hudec, R.; González-Pérez, J. M.; Shahbaz, T.; Guziy, S.; Pavlenko, L.; Sonbas, E.; Trushki, S.; Bursov, N.; Nizhelskij, N. A.; Sabau-Graziati, L.
Bibliographical reference
Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics V, Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings. ISBN 978-3-642-11249-2. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2010, p. 399
Advertised on:
2010
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Most of the transient sources that are detected in the gamma-ray sky are
produced by extragalactic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, it is known
that there are some other astronomical objects that can produce
high-energy bursts within the Milky Way. SWIFT J195509+261406, just one
degree off the Galactic plane, is one of them. It was discovered on the
10th July 2007 by the Swift satellite and was since then observable for
a period of a fortnight. During this time SWIFT J195509+261406
experimented dramatic flaring activity that could be observed in near
infrared, optical and X-rays. We gathered multi-wavelength observations
of SWIFT J195509+261406 including optical, near infrared, millimeter and
radio observations. Our dataset covers the time from 1 min after the
burst onset to more than 4 months later. Following the initial burst in
the gamma-ray band, we recorded more than 40 flaring episodes in the
optical bands (reaching up to I c ˜ 15) over a time
span of 3 days, plus a faint infrared flare that was observed at late
times. After this time, the source slowly faded away until it became
undetectable. Using the observations compiled in this work we propose
that this source is part of the magnetar family, linking soft gamma-ray
repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars to dim isolated neutron stars.