Abstract
The unidentified source of the γ-ray burst of 5 March 1979, GBS0526–66, may be located in the supernova remnant N49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud1, though some authors2,3 have questioned the implied distance of 55 kpc. Among several unusual features of the source (reviewed by Cline4) is its repeatability: a total of 16 γ-ray bursts have been reported3, which may be periodic5. Only γ-ray bursts have been detected from this source. The situation for other γ-ray burst sources is not very different. Optical transients are known, in three cases6,7, to have occurred near positions of later γ-ray bursts. Even so, no source has been identified optically8–10, and only upper limits are known for simultanous emission of optical radiation with γ-ray bursts11. Here we report that GBS0526–66 was monitored for ∼910 h, using a high speed photoelectric photometer, attached to a 50 cm telescope at ESO/La Silla. Three short optical flashes were found, which may possibly be related to the γ-ray burst phenomenon. The most intense of these occurred on 1984 February 8 UT 07:42. It reached a maximum brightness corresponding to m(visual) = 8.7. The shape of the light curve bears remarkable similarity to the initial 200 ms of the 1979 March γ-ray burst.
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Pedersen, H., Danziger, J., Hurley, K. et al. Detection of possible optical flashes from the γ-ray burst source GBS0526–66. Nature 312, 46–48 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/312046a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/312046a0
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