Towards 4U 1630-47: a black-hole soft X-ray transient odyssey
  4U 1630-47 is a black-hole X-ray transient with one of the shortest recurrence times. Despite its regular outburst behaviour little is known about this source. Only recently has attention to this system increased. I discuss there the basic known (X-ray) properties of 4U 1630-47 and report on X-ray and radio observations obtained during its recent outburst, starting in 1998 February. These observations strengthen some of the similarities seen between 4U 1630-47 and the Galactic superluminal sources GRO J1655-40 and GRS 1915+105, and provide the first detection of 4U 1630-47 in the radio. Using an updated outburst ephemeris I predict the next outburst to occur about a week before Christmas 1999. 
Erik Kuulkers (University of Oxford)