2000ApJ...543L..73N

We report on our discovery and follow-up observations of the X-ray source SAX J1747.0-2853 detected in outburst on 1998 March 10 with the BeppoSAX Wide-Field Cameras in the energy range 2-28 keV. The source is located about 0°.5 off the Galactic nucleus. A total of 14 type I X-ray bursts were detected in spring of 1998, thus identifying the object as a likely low-mass X-ray binary harboring a weakly magnetized neutron star. Evidence for photospheric radius expansion is present in at least one of the observed bursts, leading to an estimate of the source distance of ∼9 kpc. We performed a follow-up target of opportunity observation with the BeppoSAX narrow-field instruments on March 23 for a total elapsed time of 7.2x10⁴ s. The source persistent luminosity was 2.6x10³⁶ ergs.s^–1 in the 2-10 keV energy range. The broadband spectral data (1-200 keV) are consistent with a remarkable hard X-ray spectrum detected up to ∼150 keV, highly absorbed at low energies (N_H≃10²³ cm^–2) and with clear evidence for an absorption edge at ∼7 keV. A soft thermal component is also observed, which can be described by single-temperature blackbody emission at ∼0.6 keV.