  We present optical spectroscopy and optical and infrared photometry of the
neutron star soft X-ray transient Aql X--1 during its X-ray outburst of August
1997. By modelling the X-ray, optical, and IR light curves, we find a 3 day
delay between the IR and X-ray rise times, analogous to the UV-optical delay
seen in dwarf novae outbursts and black hole X-ray transients. We interpret
this delay as the signature of an ``outside-in'' outburst, in which a thermal
instability in the outer disc propagates inward. This outburst is the first of
this type definitively identified in a neutron star X-ray transient.

Astrophysics