TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 95 SUBJECT: SGR1900+14 DATE: 98/06/03 01:40:08 GMT FROM: Kevin Hurley at UCBerkeley/SSL K. Hurley, Space Sciences Laboratory, on behalf of the Ulysses Gamma-Ray Burst Team; C. Kouveliotou, Universities Space Research Association, on behalf of the Gamma-Ray Observatory BATSE team; and E. Mazets and T. Cline, on behalf of the KONUS-WIND team, report: "This soft gamma repeater has entered an extraordinary new phase of activity with a previously unobserved frequency and intensity of bursts. Activity began on May 26 and has continued at least through May 30. Triangulation with Ulysses and BATSE gives a preliminary annulus whose center is at (equinox 2000.0) R.A. = 21h58m18s, Decl. = -11o18'.4, and whose radius is 47.269 +/- 0.019 deg. This annulus includes the network synthesis error box (Hurley et al. ApJ 431, L31, 1994), the ROSAT source proposed as a possible quiescent X-ray counterpart to the soft repeater (Hurley et al. ApJ 463, L13, 1996), and the peculiar double M star system coincident with the ROSAT source (Vrba et al. ApJ 468, 225, 1996). As all these locations are mutually consistent, we conclude that the ROSAT source and M star system are indeed the counterparts to the soft gamma repeater, and urge that observations at other wavelengths be undertaken immediately, while the source remains active. An image may be found at http://ssl.berkeley.edu/ipn3/sgr1900+14/" C. Kouveliotou, Universities Space Research Association, P. Woods, M. Kippen, M.S. Briggs, University of Alabama in Huntsville, K. Hurley, Space Sciences Laboratory, report: "On May 30th, BATSE triggered on an extremely intense outburst from this source that comprised at least 38 bursts of varying intensity and duration; the series of bursts started at 32624 s UT, and lasted for about 350s. The peak flux of each of the three major bursts in the series is 1.1x10e-4 ergs/cm^2 s (between 25-300 keV, integrated for 128 ms). Assuming a distance of about 12 kpc for SGR 1900+14 (F. Vrba et al., ApJ 468, 225 1996), this corresponds to a luminosity of about 2x10e42 ergs/s for each burst. This bunching of emission is very similar to the behaviour of SGR 1806-20, as detected with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer in 1996 (C. Kouveliotou, et al, IAUC 6503). Overall, between May 26 and June 1st, we have detected over 50 bursts from SGR 1900+14. The frequency and intensity of emissions are unlike any previously seen behaviour from this source. We strongly encourage follow up observations in infra-red and radio wavelengths, while the source is still active." These messages are citeable. [GCN Operator's Note: The process table on the machine used by the GCN Circular system exceeded the maximum number of processes. This caused about 15 e-mails to be aborted. This re-invoking the mailing will fix the omission (with about a 30 minute extra delay). Since it is impossible to determine to the exact person in the list when the overflow started and when it stopped, a few of you will be receiving a second copy of this circular so as to make sure that everyone receives at least one copy -- my apologies for the duplication. Also, the re-invokation results in a Circular number (=95) different from the number for the original mailing (=94). People should use the original number (94) when making citations. The GCN Circular distribution program has been fixed to prevent this problem from recurring.]