EP260602c

J.Y. Cao, Z. X. Li, G. L. Huang, (IHEP, CAS), J. W. Hu, Y. Liu (NAO, CAS) on behalf of the Einstein Probe (EP) team:
 
We report on the detection of a fast X-ray transient by the Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT) on board the Einstein Probe (EP) mission, designated EP260602c. The source did not trigger the WXT on-board trigger unit. A GCN Notice was sent manually (trigger ID: 13616654964). The ground analysis of the WXT data shows that the event started at T0=2026-06-02T09:06:44 (UTC) and lasted for about 200 s. The WXT position of the source is R.A. = 134.673 deg, DEC = -75.673 deg (J2000) with an uncertainty of 2.3 arcmin in radius (90% C.L. statistical and systematic). 
 
The average WXT 0.5-4 keV spectrum can be fitted with an absorbed power law with a fixed Galactic hydrogen column density of 8 × 10^20 cm^-2, and a photon index of 2.14 (-0.41, +0.46). The derived average unabsorbed 0.5-4 keV flux is 1.9 (-0.5, +0.6)×10^(-10) erg/s/cm^2. 
 
A Target-of-Opportunity observation with the Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT) has been scheduled. Further information will be updated when the telemetry data is received. 
 
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).