1999ApJ...510L.119M

The Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA) observed the soft gamma repeater SGR 1900+14 on 1998 April 30-May 1 and discovered a pulsar with a period of 5.1589715(8) s from the known X-ray source of RX J190714.2+0919.3. Four months later, on September 16-17, ASCA observed SGR 1900+14 again just after the giant burst on 1998 August 27. Comparing the observations in September with those in April, there are several changes in characteristics. The pulse period changed to 5.160295(3) s, and thus the long-term period derivative is 1.1x10^–10 s.s^–1. This strongly supports a magnetar model. The folded pulse profile in 2-10 keV largely changed from three peaks in April to one simple peak, while the steady intensity increased by a factor of 2. Finally, we successfully determined the accurate location of SGR 1900+14 by the bursts with an accuracy of 1'.5 in diameter.