NICER observation list: Target ID 768201

Abstract

4FGL J1943.9+2841 is an unidentified Fermi-LAT source with a pulsar-like GeV spectrum. X-ray observations with Swift identified a bright X-ray source near the center of the 4FGL positional uncertainty ellipse. An optical counterpart, showing strong H emission lines, is coincident with the X-ray source. The optical colors, X-ray + optical spectra, and the GeV emission make it a strong redback millisecond pulsar binary candidate. Interestingly, the source has also shown a decrease in X-ray flux by a factor of ~20. Such changes in the flux are often seen in the rare subclass of redback binaries known as transitional millisecond pulsars. Here we propose a NICER TOO to observe this source the next time it enters and X-ray bright state to search for X-ray pulsations and orbital modulation.
Obsid RA DEC l b Start End Exposure Number of
Modules
Number of
Processing
Status of
Processing
Date of
Processing
Public
date
7682010101 296.008 28.747 64.226 2.396 60441.3665 60441.7655 1477.0 41 4 VALIDATED 60452.2 60455
7682010102 296.008 28.747 64.226 2.396 60445.6912 60445.8257 1272.8 41 5 VALIDATED 60457.2 60459
7682010103 296.008 28.747 64.226 2.396 60446.0090 60446.0190 621.2 50 4 VALIDATED 60457.3 60460
7682010104 296.008 28.747 64.226 2.396 60450.5072 60450.5215 1142.0 50 4 VALIDATED 60467.0 60464