//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12954 SUBJECT: GRB 120215A: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 12/02/15 00:51:33 GMT FROM: David Palmer at LANL E. A. Hoversten (PSU), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), D. N. Burrows (PSU), N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC), A. Y. Lien (NASA/GSFC/ORAU), V. Mangano (INAF-IASFPA), C. B. Markwardt (NASA/GSFC), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), D. M. Palmer (LANL), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), T. N. Ukwatta (MSU) and B.-B. Zhang (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 00:41:15 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 120215A (trigger=515015). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 30.032, +8.792 which is RA(J2000) = 02h 00m 08s Dec(J2000) = +08d 47' 30" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a single-peaked structure with a duration of about 15 sec. The peak count rate was ~1000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~3 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 00:43:01.8 UT, 106.5 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a fading, uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 30.04753, 8.80220 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 02h 00m 11.41s Dec(J2000) = +08d 48' 07.9" with an uncertainty of 3.9 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 66 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the BAT error circle. This position may be improved as more data are received; the latest position is available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/sper. A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event data gives a column density consistent with the Galactic value of 5.40 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Kalberla et al. 2005). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 110 seconds after the BAT trigger. No credible afterglow candidate has been found in the initial data products. The 2.7'x2.7' sub-image covers 100% of the XRT error circle. The typical 3-sigma upper limit has been about 19.6 mag. The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated on-board covers 100% of the XRT error circle. The list of sources is typically complete to about 18 mag. No correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.08. Burst Advocate for this burst is E. A. Hoversten (hoversten AT astro.psu.edu). 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.) //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12955 SUBJECT: GRB 120215A: Swift-BAT refined analysis DATE: 12/02/15 05:06:22 GMT FROM: Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), J. R. Cummings (GSFC/UMBC), N. Gehrels (GSFC), E. A. Hoversten (PSU), H. A. Krimm (GSFC/USRA), C. B. Markwardt (GSFC), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (GSFC/UMBC), M. Stamatikos (OSU), J. Tueller (GSFC), T. N. Ukwatta (MSU) (i.e. the Swift-BAT team): Using the data set from T-60 to T+243 sec from the recent telemetry downlink, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 120215A (trigger #515015) (Hoversten, et al., GCN Circ. 12954). The BAT ground-calculated position is RA, Dec = 30.057, 8.790 deg, which is RA(J2000) = 02h 00m 13.7s Dec(J2000) = +08d 47' 25.4" with an uncertainty of 2.3 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment). The partial coding was 83%. The mask-weighted light curve shows 2 or 3 overlapping peaks starting at ~T-2 sec, peaking at ~T+4 sec, and ending at ~T+35 sec. T90 (15-350 keV) is 26.5 +- 8.9 sec (estimated error including systematics). The time-averaged spectrum from T-0.36 to T+29.27 sec is best fit by a simple power-law model. The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is 1.62 +- 0.22. The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 4.0 +- 0.6 x 10^-7 erg/cm2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T+4.87 sec in the 15-150 keV band is 0.6 +- 0.1 ph/cm2/sec. All the quoted errors are at the 90% confidence level. The results of the batgrbproduct analysis are available at http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/notices_s/515015/BA/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12956 SUBJECT: Skynet/PROMPT observations of GRB120215A DATE: 12/02/15 06:54:17 GMT FROM: Aaron LaCluyze at U.North Carolina A. LaCluyze, J. Haislip, K. Ivarsen, D. Reichart, J. Moore, M. Nysewander, A. Trotter, R. Egger, A. Foster, A. Oza, H. T. Cromartie, E. Speckhard, and J. A. Crain report: Skynet observed the field of GRB 120215A with the PROMPT telescopes located at CTIO in Chile. Observations in B, R, and I began at 00:42:24 UT, 69 seconds after the burst. While no source is detected in early images, stacks of later images do find an optical source of roughly 20th magnitude consistent with the XRT position reported by Hoversten et. al. (GCN 12954). mean-t #exp explen filt mag +(1sig) -(1sig) 19.27m 4 80s I 19.095 0.287 0.228 20.88m 6 80s B 20.320 0.361 0.274 Analysis is ongoing, although no further observations are planned as the field has set in Chile. A preliminary light curve can be found at: http://skynet.unc.edu/grb/grb120215a.png //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12957 SUBJECT: GRB 120215A: Enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 12/02/15 08:31:38 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester P.A. Evans, M.R. Goad, J.P. Osborne and A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team. Using 1619 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 1 UVOT images for GRB 120215A, we find an astrometrically corrected X-ray position (using the XRT-UVOT alignment and matching UVOT field sources to the USNO-B1 catalogue): RA, Dec = 30.04752, +8.80178 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 02h 00m 11.41s Dec (J2000): +08d 48' 06.4" with an uncertainty of 2.0 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence). This position may be improved as more data are received. The latest position can be viewed at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_positions. Position enhancement is described by Goad et al. (2007, A&A, 476, 1401) and Evans et al. (2009, MNRAS, 397, 1177). This circular was automatically generated, and is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12959 SUBJECT: GRB 120215A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 12/02/15 12:51:03 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester M.C. Stroh (PSU), D.N. Burrows (PSU), P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), O.M. Littlejohns (U. Leicester), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), G. Stratta (ASDC), P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), J.A. Kennea (PSU) and E.A. Hoversten report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 9.4 ks of XRT data for GRB 120215A (Hoversten et al. GCN Circ. 12954), from 110 s to 19.3 ks after the BAT trigger. The data comprise 36 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode with the remainder in Photon Counting (PC) mode. The enhanced XRT position for this burst was given by Evans et al. (GCN. Circ 12957). The light curve can be modelled with an initial power-law decay with an index of alpha=3.38 (+0.26, -0.23), followed by a break at T+699 s to an alpha of -0.28 (+0.15, -0.18). A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 2.10 (+0.24, -0.22). The best-fitting absorption column is 8.4 (+5.1, -3.0) x 10^20 cm^-2, consistent with the Galactic value of 5.4 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Kalberla et al. 2005). The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 3.4 x 10^-11 (4.4 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 8.4 (+5.1, -3.0) x 10^20 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 5.4 x 10^20 cm^-2 Excess significance: <1.6 sigma Photon index: 2.10 (+0.24, -0.22) The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00515015. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12960 SUBJECT: GRB 120215A: MITSuME Okayama Optical upper limits DATE: 12/02/15 16:43:39 GMT FROM: Daisuke Kuroda at OAO/NAOJ D. Kuroda, K. Yanagisawa, Y. Shimizu, H. Toda (OAO, NAOJ), S. Nagayama (NAOJ), M. Yoshida (Hiroshima), K. Ohta (Kyoto) and N. Kawai(Tokyo Tech) report on behalf of the MITSuME collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 120215A (Hoversten et al., GCNC 12954) with the optical three color (g', Rc and Ic) CCD camera attached to the MITSuME 50cm telescope of Okayama Astrophysical Observatory. The observation started on 2012-02-15 10:16:42 UT (9.6 h after the burst) We did not find any new point source within the enhanced XRT circle (Evans et al., GCNC 12957) in all the three bands. We also could not detect the previously reported afterglow (LaCluyze et al., GCNC 12956). Three sigma upper limits of the OT are listed below. We used GSC2.3 catalog for flux calibration. T0+[day] MID-UT T-EXP[sec] g' Rc Ic ------------------------------------------------------ 0.40591 10:25:46 1140.0 >19.1 >19.0 >18.5 ------------------------------------------------------ T0+ : Elapsed time after the burst [day] T-EXP: Total Exposure time [sec] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12961 SUBJECT: GRB 120215A: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits DATE: 12/02/15 17:30:15 GMT FROM: Erik Hoversten at Swift/Penn State E. A. Hoversten (PSU) reports on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 120215A 110 s after the BAT trigger (Hoversten et al., GCN Circ. 12954). No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position (Evans et al., GCN Circ. 12957) is detected in the initial UVOT exposures. The optical source reported by LaCluyze et al. (GCN Circ. 12956) was not seen in the first orbit of observations, however our upper limits are higher than their detections. Preliminary 3-sigma upper limits using the UVOT photometric system (Breeveld et al. 2011, AIP Conf. Proc. 1358, 373) for the first finding chart (FC) exposure and subsequent exposures are: Filter T_start(s) T_stop(s) Exp(s) Mag white_FC 110 260 147 >20.5 u_FC 322 572 246 >20.3 white 110 795 186 >20.8 v 652 672 19 >17.6 b 578 771 39 >19.2 u 322 746 265 >20.3 w1 702 721 19 >18.9 m2 677 869 39 >19.6 The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.08 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12972 SUBJECT: GRB 120215A: MITSuME Akeno Optical upper limits DATE: 12/02/20 08:16:23 GMT FROM: Yoichi Yatsu at Tokyo Tech. Y. Saito, Y. Aoki, S. Song, M. Hayashi, K. Kawakami, K. Tokoyoda, R. Usui, Y. Yatsu, and N. Kawai (Tokyo Tech) report on behalf of the MITSuME collaboration: We observed GRB 120219A (Swenson et al., GCNC 12964) with the optical three color (g, Rc, and Ic) CCD cameras attached to the MITSuME 50 cm telescope of Akeno Observatory, Yamanashi, Japan. We started the observation 134 sec after the BAT trigger from 2012-02-19 14:32:22 UT. And we did not find any new point source within the XRT error circle (Goad et al., GCNC 12967) in the three bands. The results of photometry (3sigma upper limits) are listed below. The photon flux were calibrated against GSC2.3 catalog. T0+[sec] MID-UT T-EXP[sec] g' Rc Ic ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 275 14:34:43 240 > 19.5 > 19.5 > 18.2 12005 17:54:41 18060 > 21.5 > 21.4 > 20.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- T0+ : Elapsed time after the burst [sec] T-EXP: Total Exposure time [sec] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12979 SUBJECT: =?WINDOWS-1251?Q?GRB_120215=C0,_the_review_of_the_sky_area_in_pl?= =?WINDOWS-1251?Q?ate_archives?= DATE: 12/02/22 14:14:53 GMT FROM: Valentyna Golovnya at Main Astro Obs,Kyiv V.V.Golovnya (Main Astro Obs, Kyiv) report: We have undertaken the review of the sky area in vicinity of GRB 120215À (P.A. Evans et al. GCN Circ.12957) on astronegatives, collected in Ukrainian NAS Main astronomical observatory plate archive (1976-1996). All the plates with the possible object appearance are digitized using Microtek ScanMaker 9800XL TMA and Epson Expression 10000XL flatbed scanners and have been placed into Golosiiv Plate Archive database DBGPA with open access to them. The list of plates is given in the table: YYYYMMDD/TimeUT Plates Exp. LimMag Star USNOA2 19881013/222653 0075 16.0 15.80 0975-00450083 19901011/221607 1722A 22.0 16.10 0975-00449483 19901013/222637 1727 16.0 16.10 0975-00449483 19911010/224551 1867 18.0 15.05 0975-00448648 19911011/223546 1875 16.0 15.80 0975-00450083 19911102/204815 1894 18.0 15.80 0975-00450083 Plates: –the plates archive identifier of DWA (D/F=400/2000, GUA040C M=103"/mm) of the Ukrainian NAS Main Astro obs. (Marsden's number - 83) the plate number [1]. Exp. - Duration of the maximum exposure (minutes). LimMag - Limited V mag, derived in the 26 minutes area around the location given in P.A. Evans et al. GCN Circ.12957: RA(J2000) = 02h 00m 11.41s, Dec(J2000) = +08d 48'06.4" Star USNOA2 - Comparison star. The preview images of 6 areas together with the 26x26 min.of arc area from SkyMap can be found in http://gua.db.ukr-vo.org/img/grb/120215A/index.html The images with full resolution are available via e-mail on demand. References: 1.L.Pakuliak DATABASE of GOLOSIIV PLATE ARCHIVE (DBGPA V2.0), http://gua.db.ukr-vo.org