Abstract
We briefly report preliminary results of observations of strong (≳10σ) variable MeV emission from the Taurus region, possibly the Crab nebula, in 1980 by the HEAO 3 Gamma‐Ray Spectroscopy experiment. The ∼50‐day time‐averaged spectrum of the Crab shows a new component, which consists of a hard spectral ‘‘knee’’ in the 0.4–1 MeV range followed by a higher energy component extending to ≳3 MeV, superposed on the canonical Crab power law spectrum with a spectral index of 2.2. This new spectral component was not observed 4 months earlier in the fall of 1979, when the spectrum was consistent with a single power law with the index of 2.2, the same as that observed in 1980. There is no indication that the γ‐ray emission was pulsed. Such variable emission could be interpreted as Comptonization of soft photons by relativistic electrons in the magnetic field surrounding the neutron star.
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