IRAS 18119-1342

A. Henden, Universities Space Research Corporation (USRA) and U.S. Naval Observatory, Flagstaff Station (USNOFS); C. Luginbuhl and F. Vrba, USNOFS; B. Canzian, USRA and USNOFS; J. Munn, USNOFS; and D. Hartmann, Clemson University, write: "We report a strong near-infrared source at R.A. = 18h14m50s.31, Decl. = -13o41'05".6 (equinox 2000.0, +/- 0".5), which is about 2' from the center of the IPN (cf. IAUC 6593, 6683) error box for the soft gamma-ray repeater reported on IAUC 6743. JHK images saturate in our shortest available exposure (0.16 s), but we estimate magnitudes J about 7.4, H about 6.0, K about 5.1. This object is coincident with IRAS 18119-1342, within the errors of the positions. CCD images with limiting magnitudes around 20-21 show the object barely visible at V but easily visible at R and bright at I. The object is barely on the POSS-I red plate. While the GRB error-box center has been recently revised, based on RXTE ASM data (D. Smith, private comm.), to a point some 20' south of the IPN center, we note the similarity of this source to the potential infrared counterparts of SGR 1900+14."