AGILE gamma-ray detection of a variable source in the Cygnus region

The AGILE satellite, currently in a Cycle-1 pointing centered approximately in the Vulpecula region, during the observing period that started on 2008-04-10 12 00 UT, detected significant and variable gamma-ray emission from the Galactic plane from a source positionally consistent with 3EG J2020+4017. The AGILE Quicklook Analysis provides the source positional error box that is centered at Galactic coordinates l = 78.01 deg, b = 2.19 deg, and has a radius of about 1 degree.