Reactivation and Precise Interplanetary Network Localization of the Soft Gamma Repeater SGR 1900+14

In 1998 May, the soft gamma repeater SGR 1900+14 emerged from several years of quiescence and emitted a series of intense bursts, one with a time history unlike any previously observed from this source. Triangulation using Ulysses, BATSE, and KONUS data gives a 1.6 arcmin2 error box near the Galactic supernova remnant G42.8+0.6. This error box contains a quiescent soft X-ray source that is probably a neutron star associated with the soft repeater.