Activity of the soft gamma repeater SGR 1900 + 14 in 1998 from Konus-Wind observations: 2. The giant August 27 outburst

Observations of the giant outburst in SGR 1900+14 on August 27, 1998, are presented. The two extremely intense events on August 27, 1998, and March 5, 1979, are compared. The striking similarity between the outbursts underlines their common nature. The occurrence of two giant outbursts in different sources within twenty years most likely suggests that such events occur in most SGRs once every 50-100 years.