////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN/HETE BURST POSITION NOTICE NOTICE_DATE: Sat 20 Dec 03 03:30:02 UT NOTICE_TYPE: HETE S/C_Alert TRIGGER_NUM: 2976, Seq_Num: 1 GRB_DATE: 12993 TJD; 354 DOY; 03/12/20 GRB_TIME: 12596.74 SOD {03:29:56.74} UT TRIGGER_SOURCE: Trigger on the 6-120 keV band. GAMMA_RATE: 466 [cnts/s] on a 1.300 [sec] timescale SC_LONG: 320 [deg East] SUN_POSTN: 267.62d {+17h 50m 30s} -23.42d {-23d 25' 13"} MOON_POSTN: 220.09d {+14h 40m 22s} -15.04d {-15d 02' 39"} MOON_ILLUM: 15 [%] COMMENTS: No s/c ACS pointing info available yet. COMMENTS: Probable GRB. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN/HETE BURST POSITION NOTICE NOTICE_DATE: Sat 20 Dec 03 03:30:33 UT NOTICE_TYPE: HETE S/C_Update TRIGGER_NUM: 2976, Seq_Num: 2 GRB_DATE: 12993 TJD; 354 DOY; 03/12/20 GRB_TIME: 12596.74 SOD {03:29:56.74} UT TRIGGER_SOURCE: Trigger on the 6-120 keV band. GAMMA_RATE: 466 [cnts/s] on a 1.300 [sec] timescale SC_-Z_RA: 88 [deg] SC_-Z_DEC: 22 [deg] SC_LONG: 320 [deg East] WXM_CNTR_RA: 72.760d {+04h 51m 02s} (J2000), 72.821d {+04h 51m 17s} (current), 71.982d {+04h 47m 56s} (1950) WXM_CNTR_DEC: +27.340d {+27d 20' 24"} (J2000), +27.346d {+27d 20' 47"} (current), +27.256d {+27d 15' 20"} (1950) WXM_MAX_SIZE: 60.00 [arcmin] diameter WXM_LOC_SN: 3 sig/noise (pt src in image) WXM_IMAGE_SN: X= 3.7 Y= 1.2 [sig/noise] WXM_LC_SN: X= 7.5 Y= 4.7 [sig/noise] SUN_POSTN: 267.62d {+17h 50m 30s} -23.42d {-23d 25' 13"} SUN_DIST: 166.07 [deg] MOON_POSTN: 220.09d {+14h 40m 22s} -15.04d {-15d 02' 39"} MOON_DIST: 147.23 [deg] MOON_ILLUM: 15 [%] GAL_COORDS: 174.41,-10.78 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the burst ECL_COORDS: 74.68,4.81 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the burst COMMENTS: Probable GRB. COMMENTS: WXM error box is circular; not rectangular. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN/HETE BURST POSITION NOTICE NOTICE_DATE: Sat 20 Dec 03 03:32:35 UT NOTICE_TYPE: HETE S/C_Update TRIGGER_NUM: 2976, Seq_Num: 3 GRB_DATE: 12993 TJD; 354 DOY; 03/12/20 GRB_TIME: 12596.74 SOD {03:29:56.74} UT TRIGGER_SOURCE: Trigger on the 6-120 keV band. GAMMA_RATE: 466 [cnts/s] on a 1.300 [sec] timescale SC_-Z_RA: 88 [deg] SC_-Z_DEC: 22 [deg] SC_LONG: 320 [deg East] WXM_CNTR_RA: 72.760d {+04h 51m 02s} (J2000), 72.821d {+04h 51m 17s} (current), 71.982d {+04h 47m 56s} (1950) WXM_CNTR_DEC: +27.340d {+27d 20' 24"} (J2000), +27.346d {+27d 20' 47"} (current), +27.256d {+27d 15' 20"} (1950) WXM_MAX_SIZE: 60.00 [arcmin] diameter WXM_LOC_SN: 3 sig/noise (pt src in image) WXM_IMAGE_SN: X= 3.7 Y= 1.2 [sig/noise] WXM_LC_SN: X= 7.5 Y= 4.7 [sig/noise] SUN_POSTN: 267.62d {+17h 50m 30s} -23.42d {-23d 25' 13"} SUN_DIST: 166.07 [deg] MOON_POSTN: 220.09d {+14h 40m 22s} -15.04d {-15d 02' 39"} MOON_DIST: 147.23 [deg] MOON_ILLUM: 15 [%] GAL_COORDS: 174.41,-10.78 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the burst ECL_COORDS: 74.68,4.81 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the burst COMMENTS: Probable GRB. COMMENTS: WXM error box is circular; not rectangular. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN/HETE BURST POSITION NOTICE NOTICE_DATE: Sat 20 Dec 03 03:33:22 UT NOTICE_TYPE: HETE S/C_Update TRIGGER_NUM: 2976, Seq_Num: 4 GRB_DATE: 12993 TJD; 354 DOY; 03/12/20 GRB_TIME: 12596.74 SOD {03:29:56.74} UT TRIGGER_SOURCE: Trigger on the 6-120 keV band. GAMMA_RATE: 466 [cnts/s] on a 1.300 [sec] timescale SC_-Z_RA: 88 [deg] SC_-Z_DEC: 22 [deg] SC_LONG: 320 [deg East] WXM_CNTR_RA: 72.760d {+04h 51m 02s} (J2000), 72.821d {+04h 51m 17s} (current), 71.982d {+04h 47m 56s} (1950) WXM_CNTR_DEC: +27.340d {+27d 20' 24"} (J2000), +27.346d {+27d 20' 47"} (current), +27.256d {+27d 15' 20"} (1950) WXM_MAX_SIZE: 60.00 [arcmin] diameter WXM_LOC_SN: 3 sig/noise (pt src in image) WXM_IMAGE_SN: X= 3.7 Y= 1.2 [sig/noise] WXM_LC_SN: X= 7.5 Y= 4.7 [sig/noise] SUN_POSTN: 267.62d {+17h 50m 30s} -23.42d {-23d 25' 13"} SUN_DIST: 166.07 [deg] MOON_POSTN: 220.09d {+14h 40m 22s} -15.04d {-15d 02' 39"} MOON_DIST: 147.23 [deg] MOON_ILLUM: 15 [%] GAL_COORDS: 174.41,-10.78 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the burst ECL_COORDS: 74.68,4.81 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the burst COMMENTS: Probable GRB. COMMENTS: WXM error box is circular; not rectangular. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN/HETE BURST POSITION NOTICE NOTICE_DATE: Sat 20 Dec 03 03:33:25 UT NOTICE_TYPE: HETE S/C_Last TRIGGER_NUM: 2976, Seq_Num: 5 GRB_DATE: 12993 TJD; 354 DOY; 03/12/20 GRB_TIME: 12596.74 SOD {03:29:56.74} UT TRIGGER_SOURCE: Trigger on the 6-120 keV band. GAMMA_RATE: 466 [cnts/s] on a 1.300 [sec] timescale SC_-Z_RA: 88 [deg] SC_-Z_DEC: 22 [deg] SC_LONG: 320 [deg East] WXM_CNTR_RA: 72.760d {+04h 51m 02s} (J2000), 72.821d {+04h 51m 17s} (current), 71.982d {+04h 47m 56s} (1950) WXM_CNTR_DEC: +27.340d {+27d 20' 24"} (J2000), +27.346d {+27d 20' 47"} (current), +27.256d {+27d 15' 20"} (1950) WXM_MAX_SIZE: 60.00 [arcmin] diameter WXM_LOC_SN: 3 sig/noise (pt src in image) WXM_IMAGE_SN: X= 3.7 Y= 1.2 [sig/noise] WXM_LC_SN: X= 7.5 Y= 4.7 [sig/noise] SUN_POSTN: 267.62d {+17h 50m 30s} -23.42d {-23d 25' 13"} SUN_DIST: 166.07 [deg] MOON_POSTN: 220.09d {+14h 40m 22s} -15.04d {-15d 02' 39"} MOON_DIST: 147.23 [deg] MOON_ILLUM: 15 [%] GAL_COORDS: 174.41,-10.78 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the burst ECL_COORDS: 74.68,4.81 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the burst COMMENTS: Probable GRB. COMMENTS: WXM error box is circular; not rectangular. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN/HETE BURST POSITION NOTICE NOTICE_DATE: Sat 20 Dec 03 05:16:08 UT NOTICE_TYPE: HETE Ground Analysis TRIGGER_NUM: 2976, Seq_Num: 6 GRB_DATE: 12993 TJD; 354 DOY; 03/12/20 GRB_TIME: 12596.74 SOD {03:29:56.74} UT TRIGGER_SOURCE: Trigger on the 6-120 keV band. GAMMA_RATE: 466 [cnts/s] on a 1.300 [sec] timescale SC_-Z_RA: 88 [deg] SC_-Z_DEC: 22 [deg] SC_LONG: 320 [deg East] WXM_CNTR_RA: 69.971d {+04h 39m 53s} (J2000), 70.024d {+04h 40m 06s} (current), 69.294d {+04h 37m 11s} (1950) WXM_CNTR_DEC: +7.949d {+07d 56' 55"} (J2000), +7.956d {+07d 57' 23"} (current), +7.852d {+07d 51' 07"} (1950) WXM_CORNER1: 70.0630 7.3510 [deg] WXM_CORNER2: 69.7290 7.4240 [deg] WXM_CORNER3: 69.8770 8.5460 [deg] WXM_CORNER4: 70.2140 8.4740 [deg] WXM_MAX_SIZE: 72.53 [arcmin] diameter WXM_LOC_SN: 13 sig/noise (pt src in image) WXM_IMAGE_SN: X= 4.4 Y= 2.2 [sig/noise] WXM_LC_SN: X= 12.5 Y= 5.6 [sig/noise] SUN_POSTN: 267.62d {+17h 50m 30s} -23.42d {-23d 25' 13"} SUN_DIST: 157.11 [deg] MOON_POSTN: 220.09d {+14h 40m 22s} -15.04d {-15d 02' 39"} MOON_DIST: 149.86 [deg] MOON_ILLUM: 15 [%] GAL_COORDS: 189.05,-24.56 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the burst ECL_COORDS: 69.53,-14.08 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the burst COMMENTS: Definite GRB. COMMENTS: Burst_Validity flag is true. COMMENTS: WXM data refined since S/C_Last Notice. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN/HETE BURST POSITION NOTICE NOTICE_DATE: Sat 20 Dec 03 08:17:43 UT NOTICE_TYPE: HETE Ground Analysis TRIGGER_NUM: 2976, Seq_Num: 7 GRB_DATE: 12993 TJD; 354 DOY; 03/12/20 GRB_TIME: 12596.74 SOD {03:29:56.74} UT TRIGGER_SOURCE: Trigger on the 6-120 keV band. GAMMA_RATE: 466 [cnts/s] on a 1.300 [sec] timescale SC_-Z_RA: 88 [deg] SC_-Z_DEC: 22 [deg] SC_LONG: 320 [deg East] SXC_CNTR_RA: 69.893d {+04h 39m 34s} (J2000), 69.947d {+04h 39m 47s} (current), 69.219d {+04h 36m 53s} (1950) SXC_CNTR_DEC: +7.373d {+07d 22' 25"} (J2000), +7.381d {+07d 22' 52"} (current), +7.276d {+07d 16' 35"} (1950) SXC_CORNER1: 70.0570 7.3140 [deg] SXC_CORNER2: 70.0630 7.3600 [deg] SXC_CORNER3: 69.7290 7.4330 [deg] SXC_CORNER4: 69.7230 7.3870 [deg] SXC_MAX_SIZE: 20.77 [arcmin] diameter SXC_LOC_SN: 3 sig/noise (pt src in image) SUN_POSTN: 267.62d {+17h 50m 30s} -23.42d {-23d 25' 13"} SUN_DIST: 156.65 [deg] MOON_POSTN: 220.09d {+14h 40m 22s} -15.04d {-15d 02' 39"} MOON_DIST: 149.76 [deg] MOON_ILLUM: 15 [%] GAL_COORDS: 189.52,-24.95 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the burst ECL_COORDS: 69.37,-14.64 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the burst COMMENTS: Definite GRB. COMMENTS: Burst_Validity flag is true. COMMENTS: WXM data refined since S/C_Last Notice. COMMENTS: SXC data refined since S/C_Last Notice. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2494 SUBJECT: GRB031220 : Optical Observation of Lulin Observatory DATE: 03/12/20 14:52:04 GMT FROM: Kuiyun Huang at IANCU M.K.Yang (NCU), C.P.Chin (NCU) K.Y. Huang, Y. Urata, W.H. Ip, T. Tamagawa on behalf of Lulin GRB collaboration report: " We have observed the entire SXC error box of GRB031220(=H2976) in R-band at Lulin observatory(National Central University, Taiwan) beginning at 11:49 UT on Dec. 20. There are no candidate in these images comparison with DSS-II images down to 20.9 mag. Further analysis and observation are in progress." This message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2495 SUBJECT: GRB031220: ROTSE-IIIb Optical Limits DATE: 03/12/20 18:02:47 GMT FROM: Eli Rykoff at Univ. of Michigan/ROTSE E. S. Rykoff, R. Quimby, C. W. Akerlof and B. E. Schaefer report on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration: The ROTSE-IIIb telescope at McDonald Observatory, Texas, responded automatically to HETE Trigger 2976 (GRB031220). Our first image of the final SXC localization was taken 6 seconds after the receipt of HETE Trigger 2976-6 on December 20, 05:16:14 UT, 1.77 hours after the burst. The system took 10x5 sec, 10x20 sec and 160x60 sec exposures. After co-adding sets of ten images, comparison to the USNO-B catalog reveals no new sources in the SXC error box. Furthermore, visual comparison to the DSS-2 Red and IR Plates reveal no new sources to an unfiltered limiting magnitude of 19.2 at 1.9 hours after the burst. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2496 SUBJECT: GRB 031220: Optical observation at Tokyo Tech DATE: 03/12/21 03:52:55 GMT FROM: Nobuyuki Kawai at Tokyo Tech R. Sato and N. Kawai (Tokyo Tech) report: "We have observed the field covering the entire SXC error box of GRB 031220 (HETE trigger 2976; trigger time 03:29:56.7 UT) with the unfiltered CCD camera on the 30-cm telescope at Tokyo Tech, beginning at 09:23:19 UT on Dec. 20. After co-adding a set of 10 images of 10 sec exposures, comparison with the USNO A2.0 catalog revealed no new sources in the SXC error box. Furthermore, visual inspection of the images revealed no obvious new source compared with the DSS-2 Red to an approximate limiting magnitude of 16.5." //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2497 SUBJECT: GRB 031220: Subaru observation DATE: 03/12/21 04:08:58 GMT FROM: Nobuyuki Kawai at Tokyo Tech G. Kosugi, Y. Ohyama, T. Yamada, K. Sekiguchi, T. Sasaki, M. Akiyama, and N. Kawai report on behalf of the Subaru GRB team: "We have observed the field covering most of the SXC error box of GRB 031220 (=H2976) in I band with FOCAS on the Subaru 8.2m telescope on Mauna Kea beginning at 11:20 UT on Dec 20, approximately 8 hours after the burst. The field was covered with 5 pointings of 10 min exposure, with average seeing of 0.9 arcseconds. Visual comparison with DSS-2 images revealed no obvious counterpart candidates." //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2498 SUBJECT: GRB 031220 : Kyoto Optical Observation DATE: 03/12/21 08:48:27 GMT FROM: Hitoshi Yamaoka at Kyushu U., VSNET-GRB collab. M. Uemura, R. Ishioka, T. Kato (Kyoto U.), C. Nakayama and H. Yamaoka (Kyushu U.) report on behalf of VSNET-GRB collaboration: "We observed the position of GRB 031220 (=H2976) starting at Dec. 20.39 UT (6.0 hours after burst) with the 0.25-m telescope (+unfiltered CCD) at Kyoto University. The stacked image (32 x 30s, during 09:43 - 10:07 UT) covers the central part (about 45%) of the entire SXC error box. Visual comparison of the stacked image to the DSS 2 red image shows no new object down to a limiting magnitude of about 17.8 (estimated with USNO-A2.0 red magnitudes of many field stars). This message can be cited." //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2499 SUBJECT: GRB031220: Palomar Observations DATE: 03/12/21 12:30:45 GMT FROM: Derek Fox at CIT D.B. Fox, A.M. Soderberg and E.Berger (Caltech) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: "We have observed the HETE-2/SXC localization region for GRB 031220 through intermittent clouds with the Palomar 200-inch (5-m) Hale Telescope and Large Format Camera (LFC) from 08:30 to 10:00 UT on 20 Dec 2003. With a subset of these data we have created two coadded r' images with exposures of approximately 24-min over the full SXC region and with mean epochs of 08:50 UT (5:20 after the GRB) and 09:47 UT (6:17 after the GRB), respectively. The limiting magnitudes of these images, as referenced against the R-band (F-emulsion) photometry of the GSC-2, are R~23 and R~22.5, respectively, with the later observations having been more strongly extinguished by cloud cover. Comparison of these images to the Digitized Sky Survey reveals no new objects brighter than the DSS limit. Moreover, PSF-matched image subtraction of the two images reveals no strongly variable sources significantly brighter than our limits. Since a t^(-1) decay would have produced a 0.2 mag decline between the two epochs of exposure, we estimate that any afterglow of GRB 031220 had R>21 at our epoch of first observation. Our coadded r' images, and their subtraction, may be found at: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~derekfox/grb031220/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2510 SUBJECT: GRB031220: observation at Univercity of Miyazaki DATE: 04/01/07 13:25:20 GMT FROM: Shouta Maeno at U.of Miyazaki C.Fukami, S.maeno, K.Sakamoto, E.Sonoda, M.Yamauchi (Univercity of Miyazaki) "We have observed the field covering the entire SXC error box of GRB 031220 (HETE trigger 2976;triger time 03:29:56.7 UT) with the unfiltered CCD camera on the 30-cm telescope at Univercity of Miyazaki, beginning at 10:05:59 UT on Dec.20. After co-adding a set of 2 images of 30 sec exposure and CCD's field of view is 43arcmin. We compared with the USNO-A2.0 catalog. There is no new source brighter than 17.51 mag in the SXC error box. [GCN OPS NOTE (07jan04): This Circular was delayed 10.5 hours until a new account could be set up.] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2513 SUBJECT: GRB 031220: Optical observations of Chandra X-ray sources DATE: 04/01/08 20:30:00 GMT FROM: Javier Gorosabel at LAEFF-INTA, Madrid J. Gorosabel (STScI/IAA-CSIC), J. Rhoads (STScI), A. Fruchter (STScI), D. Bersier (STScI), J.M. Castro Ceron (STScI), A. Levan (U. of Leicester), C. Smith (CTIO), report: We have acquired 5x480s R-band images of GRB 031220 (HETE trigger #2976) field with the CTIO 4-m Telescope (+Mosaic2) on 2003 Dec. 21.1787--21.2113 UT. The large field of view of Mosaic2 allowed us to simultaneously image the positions of the 7 X-ray sources detected by Chandra (GCN #2502). Fixing our zero point to the R-band magnitude of source #27 (based on the R-band images taken with the TNG, GCN #2503) we obtain the following magnitudes: Chandra R +/- ER R +/- ER ID # (CTIO, Dec. 21 ~04:30 UT) (TNG, Dec. 28 ~01:24 UT) ------------------------------------------------------------- 1 24.40 +/- 0.18 - 2 % - 6 20.61 +/- 0.01 20.61 +/- 0.05 7 23.03 +/- 0.04 23.48 +/- 0.11 17 23.06 +/- 0.04 23.10 +/- 0.07 27 19.42 +/- 0.01 19.42 +/- 0.05 37 25.15 +/- 0.24 * ------------------------------------------------------------- - No counterpart brighter than R = 24 (3 sigma). % No counterpart brighter than R = 25.3 (3 sigma). * Out of the FOV. ------------------------------------------------------------- Sources #6, #17 and #27, remain constant within photometric uncertainties. No comparison was possible for objects #1, #2 and #37, which are not present in the TNG images. Object #7 shows an R-band decay at a 3.8 sigma level, which makes it a suggestive afterglow candidate. However, the potential fading associated with object #7 would yield a power-law decay index Alpha = 0.21 +/- 0.05, quite unusual (but not unprecedented) for GRB afterglows. We encourage further deep R-band imaging to clarify the potential fading of source #7