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R.H.D. Corbet (GSFC, USRA), F.E. Marshall (GSFC), A.G. Peele (GSFC, NRC), T. Takeshima (GSFC, USRA)
A new X-ray source, XTE J1855-026, was discovered during RXTE scans along the galactic plane. The source shows pulsations at a period of 361 s and also modulation at a period of 6.1 days which we interpret as the orbital period of the system. The X-ray spectrum above ~3 keV can be fitted with an absorbed power law model with a high-energy cut-off or cyclotron absorption line, and an iron emission line at approximately 6.4 keV. We interpret these results as indicating that XTE J1855-026 is likely to consist of a neutron star accreting from the wind of an early spectral type supergiant primary. If the source is instead a Be/neutron star system, perhaps associated with a 12th magnitude Be star inside the X-ray error box, then it would have the shortest known orbital period for such a system.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: corbet@gsfc.nasa.gov