TO: All GCN email sites RE: Two Changes in the format of some of the Swift Notices DT: 29 Oct 05 INTRO: This documents two changes to the GCN/Swift XRT & UVOT Notices: (a) the DATE & TIME labels, and (b) the addition of the time-since-trigger field. (a) The original implementation of these DATE & TIME labels was not quite right. I got the "GRB" prefixes incorporated in some of the NFI Notices, when, in fact, they are not strictly GRB-ish, but rather afterglow/image-related. (b) The delta time since trigger is being added as a convenience. These effect only the full email format notices; nothing is changing in the 4 pager/cell formats, nor the socket packet contents. WHICH NOTICES ARE CHANGING LABELS: There are 6 Notice types that have the label changes. See the table below. TABLE OF CHANGES: NOTICE TYPE LABEL DELTA_T ========================== ===== ======= XRT Position Y Y XRT Pos Nack Y Y XRT Image [Processed] Y XRT Spectrum [Processed] Y XRT Lightcurve [Processed] Y UVOT Source List [Processed] Y Y UVOT Image [Processed] Y Y UVOT Position Y WHICH LABELS ARE CHANGING: Below are pairs of extractions from the Notices in question. For clarity, only the NOTICE_TYPE and the *_DATE/*_TIME lines are listed for clarity (I didn't list the whole notice because that would clutter things). Each pair is separated by a "//////////" divider. The current way is listed first, then comes the new way (separated by a "========" divider). The basic change is that the "GRB_" prefix is changed to "IMG_START_" (or "SPEC_START_" or "LC_START_", as appropriate). ADDITION TO THE 'TIME' LINE: In addition to the label changes, there is also an addition to each of the IMG_START_TIME lines. Appended onto each line is the field: "NN.N [sec] since BAT Trigger Time". (This field is just the difference between the respective start-of-image-accumulation time and the BAT Trigger Time.) All the XRT and UVOT notice types are getting this change. See the table above. SCHEDULE FOR IMPLEMENTATION: a) The label changes will start 03 Nov 05. b) The delta-time fields have already been added as of 26 Oct 05. APOLOGIES: I apologize for those of you who have written scripts to parse these incoming email notices. These changes (particularly the label changes) will cause you some extra work. However, I feel that the current set of "GRB_"-based labels is too confusing to people, and the long-term benifits will outweigh the short-term efforts of a few. Sincerely, Scott Scott Barthelmy NASA-GSFC, Code 661, Greenbelt, MD 20771 PHONE: 301-286-3106 (office) FAX: 301-286-1684 (1st choice, -1682 2nd choice) EMAIL: scott@lheamail.gsfc.nasa.gov PAGER: 3013463733@mmode.com WEB: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Position GRB_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 GRB_TIME: 79992.27 SOD {22:13:12.27} UT [Start of CCD integration] ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Position IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79992.27 SOD {22:13:12.27} UT, 91.8 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Nack-Position GRB_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 GRB_TIME: 79992.27 SOD {22:13:12.27} UT [Start of CCD integration] ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Nack-Position IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79992.27 SOD {22:13:12.27} UT, 91.8 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Image IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79992.27 SOD {22:13:12.27} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Image IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79992.27 SOD {22:13:12.27} UT, 91.8 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Processed Image IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79992.27 SOD {22:13:12.27} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Processed Image IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79992.27 SOD {22:13:12.27} UT, 91.8 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Spectrum SPEC_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 SPEC_START_TIME: 80005.60 SOD {22:13:25.60} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Spectrum SPEC_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 SPEC_START_TIME: 80005.60 SOD {22:13:25.60} UT, 105.1 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Processed Spectrum SPEC_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 SPEC_START_TIME: 80013.60 SOD {22:13:33.60} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Processed Spectrum SPEC_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 SPEC_START_TIME: 80013.60 SOD {22:13:33.60} UT, 113.1 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Processed Spectrum SPEC_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 SPEC_START_TIME: 80013.60 SOD {22:13:33.60} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Processed Spectrum SPEC_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 SPEC_START_TIME: 80013.60 SOD {22:13:33.60} UT, 113.1 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Lightcurve LC_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 LC_START_TIME: 79997.61 SOD {22:13:17.61} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-XRT Lightcurve LC_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 LC_START_TIME: 79997.61 SOD {22:13:17.61} UT, 97.1 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-UVOT Source List GRB_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 GRB_TIME: 79998.98 SOD {22:13:18.98} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-UVOT Source List IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79998.98 SOD {22:13:18.98} UT, 98.5 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-UVOT Processed Source List GRB_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 GRB_TIME: 79998.98 SOD {22:13:18.98} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-UVOT Processed Source List IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79998.98 SOD {22:13:18.98} UT, 98.5 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-UVOT Image GRB_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 GRB_TIME: 79998.98 SOD {22:13:18.98} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-UVOT Image IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79998.98 SOD {22:13:18.98} UT, 98.5 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-UVOT Processed Image GRB_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 GRB_TIME: 79998.98 SOD {22:13:18.98} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-UVOT Processed Image IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79998.98 SOD {22:13:18.98} UT, 98.5 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-UVOT Position IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79998.98 SOD {22:13:18.98} UT ====================================================================================== NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-UVOT Position IMG_START_DATE: 13414 TJD; 44 DOY; 05/02/13 IMG_START_TIME: 79998.98 SOD {22:13:18.98} UT, 98.5 [sec] since BAT Trigger Time