TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  7296
SUBJECT: GRB 080212: Swift detection of a burst
DATE:    08/02/12 17:58:30 GMT
FROM:    Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC  <scott@lheamail.gsfc.nasa.gov>

H. Ziaeepour (UCL-MSSL), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC),
W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), A. P. Beardmore (U Leicester),
P. J. Brown (PSU), D. N. Burrows (PSU), M. M. Chester (PSU),
J. R. Cummings (NASA/UMBC), G. Cusumano (INAF-IASFPA),
M. De Pasquale (UCL-MSSL), O. Godet (U Leicester),
C. Guidorzi (INAF-OAB), J. A. Kennea (PSU), H. A. Krimm (GSFC/USRA),
V. Mangano (INAF-IASFPA), J. Mao (INAF-OAB),
C. B. Markwardt (CRESST/GSFC/UMD), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC),
P. T. O'Brien (U Leicester), C. Pagani (PSU),
K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL),
D. Perez (U Leicester), P. Romano (INAF-IASFPA),
T. Sakamoto (NASA/UMBC), G. Sato (GSFC/ISAS),
B. Sbarufatti (INAF-IASFPA), M. Stamatikos (NASA/ORAU),
R. L. C. Starling (U Leicester), G. Tagliaferri (INAF-OAB),
E. Troja (U Leicester/INAF-IASFPa), D. E. Vanden Berk (PSU) and
L. Vetere (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team:

At 17:34:33 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 080212 (trigger=303105).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 231.107, -22.752 which is 
   RA(J2000) = 15h 24m 26s
   Dec(J2000) = -22d 45' 06"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve showed a single peak
with a duration of about 20 sec.  The peak count rate was ~1000 
counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0 sec after the trigger.  There may be a
precursor at T-60 sec. 

The XRT began observing the field at 17:36:19 UT, 106 seconds after the
BAT trigger. XRT found a bright, fading X-ray source
located at RA, Dec 231.1466, -22.7410 which is
   RA(J2000)  =  15h 24m 35.1s
   Dec(J2000) = -22d 44' 27.5"
with an uncertainty of 4.7 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). 
This location is 137 arcseconds from the BAT on-board position,
within the BAT error circle. The initial flux in the 2.5s image
was 6.9e-09 erg/cm2/s (0.2-10 keV). 

UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 400 seconds with the V filter
starting 109 seconds after the BAT trigger. No afterglow candidate
has been found in the initial data products. There is a object in the
DSS image inside the XRT error circle which is also detected by UVOT
with a magnitude of 17.7. The 2.7'x2.7' sub-image covers 100% of the
XRT error circle. The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated
on-board covers 100% of the XRT error circle. No correction has been
made for the expected extinction of about 0.5 magnitudes. 

Burst Advocate for this burst is H. Ziaeepour (hz AT mssl.ucl.ac.uk). 
Please contact the BA by email if you require additional information
regarding Swift followup of this burst. In extremely urgent cases, after
trying the Burst Advocate, you can contact the Swift PI by phone (see
Swift TOO web site for information: http://www.swift.psu.edu/too.html.)