X-rays: binaries

The Swift/BAT Hard X-Ray Transient Monitor

The Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray transient monitor provides near real-time coverage of the X-ray sky in the energy range 15-50 keV. The BAT observes 88% of the sky each day with a detection sensitivity of 5.3 mCrab for a full-day …

The double-peaked 2008 outburst of the accreting milli-second X-ray pulsar, IGR J00291+5934

Context. In August 2008, the accreting milli-second X-ray pulsar (AMXP), IGR J00291+5934, underwent an outburst lasting åisebox-0.5ex 100 days, the first since its discovery in 2004. Aims: We present data from the 2008 double-peaked outburst of IGR …

GRB 070610: A Curious Galactic Transient

GRB 070610 is a typical high-energy event with a duration of 5 s. Yet within the burst localization we detect a highly unusual X-ray and optical transient, Swift J195509.6+261406. We see high- amplitude X-ray and optical variability on very short …

Results of a search for new microquasars in the Galaxy

We present here the results of a search for new microquasars at low galactic latitudes, based on a cross-identification between the ROSAT all sky Bright Source Catalog (RBSC) and the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) and follow-up observations. The results …

Optical spectroscopy of microquasar candidates at low Galactic latitudes

We report optical spectroscopic observations of a sample of 6 low- galactic latitude microquasar candidates selected by cross- identification of X-ray and radio point source catalogs for |b$^II$ | łeq 5 °. Two objects resulted to be of clear …