The crucial discovery of thermonuclear X-ray bursts: never throw away old data!

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the importance of re-analyzing old X-ray data, highlighting the discovery of thermonuclear bursts and advocating for the value of archival data in astrophysics research.

Contribution

It revisits and re-analyzes archival data from the ANS satellite, uncovering significant insights into thermonuclear X-ray bursts that were previously overlooked.

Findings

Re-analysed 1975 ANS data revealing thermonuclear bursts

Confirmed the first Type I X-ray burst from Vela 5B in 1969

Highlighted the value of archival data for new astrophysical discoveries

Abstract

The detection of Type I X-ray bursts is attributed to those seen by the Astronomical Netherlands Satellite (ANS) in September 1975 from the globular cluster NGC6624 containing the X-ray source 4U1820-303. I revisit these X-ray bursts, by re-analysing data from the Soft X-ray Experiment (SXX) onboard ANS, which were stored on microfiche. Earlier accounts of X-ray bursts had been reported; the first Type I X-ray burst recorded is the one observed by Vela 5B from Cen X-4 in July 1969.