GCN Circular 1432

Bursts from the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar 1E 2259+586

V. M. Kaspi (McGill University/MIT), F. P. Gavriil (McGill University) and 
P. M. Woods (USRA/NSSTC) report:

We have detected several short X-ray bursts from the direction of the anomalous
X-ray pulsar 1E 2259+586, using the PCA aboard RXTE.  The bursting behavior was
detected during a routine 15-ks duration monitoring observation which began
June 18, 2002 at 15:39 UTC.  In this observation, ~45 bursts were detected,
most of which had duration < 1-2 sec, reminiscent of those seen in soft gamma
repeaters.   The mean 1-s flux per burst is approximately 10{^-8} erg/cm^2/s
(2-20 keV).  The Chandra-determined position for this pulsar is J2000 RA 23 01
08.295, DEC +58 52 44.45 (uncertainty 0".60 in radius, 99% confidence; Hulleman
et al. 2001, ApJ, 563, L49).  Observations at other wavebands are encouraged.