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C.R. Shrader, Wan Chen, C. Haswell, R. Hynes
We report on observations of the recent outburst of the X-ray nova GRO J1655-40 made using the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. Spectra over the RXTE/PCA soft-X-ray band, and in the HST/FOS near ultraviolet are presented for the early phase of the outburst when the source was extremely soft - it went undected by CGRO/BATSE above 20 keV despite a 3-Crab intensity over the nominal 2-20 keV band covered by the RXTE/PCA. Later, over the course of the outburst the hard X-rays turned on, and a composite broad-band X-ray spectrum can be constructed. The source continued to brighten in the hard-X-ray band over the next month, and remained bright for several months. Implications of the spectral evolution are considered in the context of current models for the broad-band emission of X-ray novae outbursts.
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