Optical and Near-IR Observations of the Current Outburst of Aql X-1

Abstract

As part of a monitoring campaign of quiescent and outbursting low-mass X-ray binaries with the CTIO/SMARTS telescopes and the Faulkes telescopes , we report observations of Aql X-1 and confirm the optical counterpart of the new X-ray outburst (ATel #1216). On 2007 Aug 30 (MJD 54342.26) we performed optical observations of Aql X-1 for 100 sec each in V and i' filters using the Faulkes Telescope North in V and i'-bands and detected the source with a confidence of 20 and 63 sigma in V and i', respectively