TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  36091
SUBJECT: EP240414a: EP-WXT detection of a fast X-ray transient
DATE:    24/04/14 14:44:16 GMT
FROM:    EP Team at NAOC/CAS <ep_ta@bao.ac.cn>

T. Y. Lian, X. Pan, Z. X. Ling, Y. Liu, C. Zhang, C. C. Jin, H. Q. Cheng, W. Chen, C. Z. Cui, D. W. Fan, H. B. Hu, J. W. Hu, M. H. Huang, D. Y. Li, H. Y. Liu, M. J. Liu, Z. Z. Lv, X. Mao, H. W. Pan, H. Sun, W. X. Wang, Y. L. Wang, Q. Y. Wu, X. P. Xu, Y. F. Xu, H. N. Yang, W. Yuan, M. Zhang, W. D. Zhang, W. J. Zhang, Z. Zhang, D. H. Zhao (NAOC, CAS), J. Yang, C. Y. Dai (NJU), Y. F. Liang (PMO), Y. Chen, S. M. Jia, S. N. Zhang (IHEP, CAS), E. Kuulkers, A. Santovincenzo (ESA), P. O'Brien (Univ. of Leicester), K. Nandra, A. Rau (MPE), B. Cordier (CEA) on behalf of the Einstein Probe team 
 
We report on the detection of a fast X-ray transient, desinated EP240414a, by the Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT) on board the Einstein Probe (EP) mission. The transient triggered the WXT on-board processing unit at 2024-04-14T09:50:12 (UTC). The position of the source is R.A. = 191.498 deg, DEC = -9.695 deg (J2000) with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin in radius (90% C.L. statistical and systematic). The transient event has a peak flux of ~3 x 10^-9 erg/s/cm^2 in the 0.5-4 keV band. 
 
No previously known X-ray sources at a similar flux level are found within the 3 arcmin region around the source position. Further information will be provided once the data has been transmitted through a ground station.
 
The above observation was made with the WXT instrument during the  commissioning phase of EP. Launched on January 9, 2024, EP is a space X-ray observatory to monitor the soft X-ray sky with X-ray follow-up capability (Yuan et al. 2022, Handbook of X-ray and Gamma-ray Astrophysics). EP is a mission of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in collaboration with ESA, MPE and CNES.