//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18875 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: Swift detection of a burst with optical counterpart DATE: 16/01/17 14:14:09 GMT FROM: David Palmer at LANL E. Sonbas (Adiyaman Univ.), J. A. Kennea (PSU), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), K. L. Page (U Leicester) and D. M. Palmer (LANL) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 13:59:27 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 160117B (trigger=670800). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 132.190, -16.340 which is RA(J2000) = 08h 48m 46s Dec(J2000) = -16d 20' 23" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a complex structure with a duration of about 60 sec. The peak count rate was ~1300 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~7 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 14:00:22.5 UT, 55.0 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a bright, uncatalogued X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 132.1953, -16.3668 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 08h 48m 46.88s Dec(J2000) = -16d 22' 00.4" with an uncertainty of 2.2 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 98 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. We cannot determine whether the source is fading at the present time. A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event data gives a column density consistent with the Galactic value of 5.71 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The initial flux in the 2.5 s image was 4.84e-09 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10 keV). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 63 seconds after the BAT trigger. There is a candidate afterglow in the rapidly available 2.7'x2.7' sub-image at RA(J2000) = 08:48:46.76 = 132.19484 DEC(J2000) = -16:21:59.9 = -16.36664 with a 90%-confidence error radius of about 0.62 arc sec. This position is 3.2 arc sec. from the center of the XRT error circle. The estimated magnitude is 18.32 with a 1-sigma error of about 0.14. No correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.07. Burst Advocate for this burst is E. Sonbas (edasonbas AT yahoo.com). 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.) [GCN OPS NOTE(17jan16): Per N.Cucchiara's request, the Trigger number in the first paragraph was changed from 670793 to 670800.] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18877 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: MASTER-Amur OT observations DATE: 16/01/17 15:09:51 GMT FROM: Vladimir Lipunov at Moscow State U/Krylov Obs V.Yurkov, Yu.Sergienko, D.Varda, E.Sinyakov Blagoveschensk Educational State University, Blagoveschensk E. Gorbovskoy, V. Lipunov, V.Kornilov, D.Kuvshinov, N.Tyurina, P.Balanutsa, A.Kuznetsov, V.V.Chazov, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University K.Ivanov, S.Yazev, N.M.Budnev, O.Gres, O.Chuvalaev, V.A.Poleshchuk Irkutsk State University V.Krushinski, I.Zalozhnih, A. Popov Ural Federal University, Kourovka A. Tlatov, A.V. Parhomenko, D. Dormidontov, V.Senik Kislovodsk Solar Station of the Pulkovo Observatory D.Buckley, S. Potter, A.Kniazev, M.Kotze South African Astronomical Observatory Hugo Levato and Carlos Saffe Instituto de Ciencias Astronomicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio (ICATE) Claudio Mallamaci, Carlos Lopez and Federico Podest Observatorio Astronomico Felix Aguilar (OAFA) R. Rebolo, M. Serra, N. Lodieu, G. Israelian, L. Suarez-Andres The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias MASTER II robotic telescope (MASTER-Net: http://observ.pereplet.ru) located in Blagoveschensk was pointed to the GRB160117B (Sonbas et. al. GCN 18875) and made first exposition 19 sec after notice time and 35 sec after trigger time at 2016-01-17 14:04:35 UT. But due to some problem with mount on strong frost (-40 deg) we have a ~4 deg. poining error and do not cover GRB160117B error box. We correct this error and made first (60 sec exposure) image with GRB160117B error box at 2016-01-17 14:21:31 i.e. 1323 sec. after the trigger with upper limit 17.0. On one of coadd image (with total exposure 180 sec, 1696 sec after the trigger) we see GRB160117B optical counterpart (Sonbas et. al. GCN 18875) with 17.5 mag. All magnitudes are unfiltered (0.2B+0.8R) with respect to number USNO B1.0 stars. The message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18878 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: LCOGT-SSO optical observations DATE: 16/01/17 15:55:37 GMT FROM: Thomas Kruehler at MPE Garching T. Kruehler (MPE), D. Xu (NAOC/CAS), Y.-D. Hu (IAA-CSIC), Y. Qing (Geneva Observatory), Y.-H. Han (NAOC/CAS, HUST) report: We observed the field of GRB 160117B (Swift trigger 670793, Sonbas et al., GCN 18875) using the LCOGT-1m located at the Siding Spring Observatory. Observations started at 14:20:45 UT on 2016-01-17 (i.e., 1278 s after the burst), and a series of 180 s R-band images have been obtained. Further observations are ongoing. The optical afterglow is detected at coordinates: R.A. (J2000) = 08:48:46.74 Dec. (J2000) = -16:22:00.0 with an error radius of 0.2 arcsec, which is fully consistent with the UVOT position from GCN 18875. The afterglow has R = 18.3 +- 0.1 mag from the first 180 s exposure, calibrated with the nearby USNO B1 stars (R1 magnitudes). The afterglow has been decaying rather slowly, with a decay slope of -0.5 +- 0.1 so far. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18880 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: Enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 16/01/17 18:08:32 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 2434 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 5 UVOT images for GRB 160117B, 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 = 132.19454, -16.36675 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 08h 48m 46.69s Dec (J2000): -16d 22' 00.3" 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: 18881 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: Swift/UVOT Detection DATE: 16/01/17 21:23:02 GMT FROM: Lea Hagen at PSU L. M. Z. Hagen (PSU) and E. Sonbas (Adiyaman Univ.) report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 160117B 64 s after the BAT trigger (Sonbas et al. GCN Circ. 18875). We detect a fading source consistent with the XRT position (Evans et al. GCN Circ. 18880) and optical detections (Yurkov et al. GCN Circ. 18877, Kruehler et al. GCN Circ. 18878). The preliminary UVOT position is: RA (J2000) = 08:48:46.76 = 132.19485 (deg.) Dec (J2000) = -16:22:00.1 = -16.36670 (deg.) with an estimated uncertainty of 0.44 arc sec. (radius, 90% confidence). Preliminary detections using the UVOT photometric system (Breeveld et al. 2011, AIP Conf. Proc. 1358, 373) for the early exposures are: Filter T_start(s) T_stop(s) Exp(s) Mag white 63 213 147 18.24+-0.06 white 876 1025 147 18.26+-0.06 white 5700 5899 196 19.22+-0.09 white 7136 7335 196 19.48+-0.11 v 6111 6311 196 >19.27 b 5495 5695 196 19.84+-0.26 b 6931 7131 196 >20.22 u 275 525 245 17.84+-0.08 u 5290 5489 196 19.13+-0.20 u 6725 6925 196 19.14+-0.21 w1 5085 5285 196 18.75+-0.19 w1 6521 6721 196 18.90+-0.21 m2 6316 6515 196 19.22+-0.29 w2 5905 6105 196 19.18+-0.23 w2 7341 7533 188 19.50+-0.31 The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.07 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18883 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 16/01/18 00:26:47 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), A. D'Ai (INAF-IASFPA), A. Maselli (INAF-IASFPA), A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), J.A. Kennea (PSU), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), D.N. Burrows (PSU), S.L. Gibson (U. Leicester), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester) and E. Sonbas report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 9.8 ks of XRT data for GRB 160117B (Sonbas et al. GCN Circ. 18875), from 48 s to 24.8 ks after the BAT trigger. The data comprise 135 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode (the first 5 s were taken while Swift was slewing) with the remainder in Photon Counting (PC) mode. The enhanced XRT position for this burst was given by Evans et al. (GCN Circ. 18880). The late-time light curve (from T0+5.1 ks) can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay index of alpha=0.77 (+0.25, -0.24). A spectrum formed from the WT mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 2.36 (+0.08, -0.07). The best-fitting absorption column is 1.31 (+0.19, -0.18) x 10^21 cm^-2, in excess of the Galactic value of 5.7 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The PC mode spectrum has a photon index of 1.88 (+0.14, -0.13) and a best-fitting absorption column of 8.8 (+3.7, -3.1) x 10^20 cm^-2. The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 3.5 x 10^-11 (4.1 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 8.8 (+3.7, -3.1) x 10^20 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 5.7 x 10^20 cm^-2 Excess significance: <1.6 sigma Photon index: 1.88 (+0.14, -0.13) If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of 0.77, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 8.4 x 10^-3 count s^-1, corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 3.0 x 10^-13 (3.5 x 10^-13) erg cm^-2 s^-1. The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00670800. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18884 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: NOT optical afterglow observations DATE: 16/01/18 01:27:54 GMT FROM: Daniele Malesani at Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Inst D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), A. de Ugarte Postigo (IAA-CSIC and DARK/NBI), R. Carrera (IAC-ULL), C.E. Martinez-Vazquez (IAC-ULL), P. Jakobsson (Univ. Iceland), report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We observed the optical counterpart of GRB 160117B (Sonbas et al., GCN 18875; Yurkov et al., GCN 18877; Kruehler et al., GCN 18878) with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) equipped with the ALFOSC camera. In a 300-s exposure taken starting on Jan 18.028 UT (10.7 hr after the GRB), we measure for the afterglow a magnitude of R = 20.36 +- 0.11 (Vega), calibrated against several nearby USNO-B1 stars (R1 magnitudes), with the uncertainty mostly due to the scatter in the USNO values. [GCN OPS NOTE(18jan16): Per author's request, C.E.M-V was added, and the affiliations were adjusted for A.dU.P. and R.C..] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18885 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: iTelescope T17 optical observations DATE: 16/01/18 04:04:33 GMT FROM: Veli-Pekka Hentunen at Taurus Hill Obs,A95 Veli-Pekka Hentunen, Markku Nissinen and Tuomo Salmi (Taurus Hill Observatory, Varkaus, Finland) report: We have detected GRB 160117B optical afterglow at iTelescope observatory T17 using 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph and FLI ProLine E2V CCD. The observations were started at 2016-01-17 14:34:35 (UT). Nine unfiltered images with 300 sec exposure time were taken. The afterglow was detected at the position RA 08:48:46.85 and DEC -16:22:00.0. The following magnitude was obtained from the observations using USNO-B1.0 0736-0196371 (R1=16.52) as a comparison star: Tmid(s)+T0 Filter Exp. time Mag Mag. Err. 4367 Clear 9x300s 18.6CR 0.2 --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18886 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: VLT/X-shooter spectroscopy DATE: 16/01/18 05:35:54 GMT FROM: Antonio de Ugarte Postigo at IAA-CSIC A. de Ugarte Postigo (IAA-CSIC, DARK/NBI), G. Pugliese (API/UvA), D. Xu (NAOC/CAS), D. Malesani (DARK/NBI) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We observed the afterglow of GRB 160117B (Sonbas et al., GCN 18875; Yurkov et al., GCN 18877; Kruehler et al., GCN 18878, Malesani et al. GCN 18884, Hentunen et al. GCN 18885) with ESO's Very Large Telescope UT2 equipped with X-shooter. The spectra cover the range between 3000 and 18000 AA. Observations consisted of 4x1200s exposures, starting at 03:26 UT (13.45 hr after the GRB onset). The optical counterpart is clearly detected in our grz acquisition images. A preliminary analysis of the spectrum shows a clear continuum with absorption features due to FeII, MgII, as well as emission features of [OII], [OIII] and H-beta at a common redshift of 0.870, which we propose as redshift of the GRB. We acknowledge the excellent support provided by the Paranal staff. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18887 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: GROND optical/NIR afterglow observations DATE: 16/01/18 10:54:19 GMT FROM: Thomas Kruehler at MPE Garching T.-W. Chen, T. Kruehler and J. Greiner (all MPE Garching) report on behalf of the GROND team: We observed the field of GRB 160117B (Sonbas et al., GCN 18875) simultaneously in g'r'i'z'JHK with GROND (Greiner et al. 2008, PASP 120, 405) mounted at the 2.2 m MPG telescope at ESO La Silla Observatory (Chile). Observations started at 00:54 UT on 2016-01-18, about 11 hours after the GRB trigger. The optical afterglow (Sonbas et al., GCN 18875; Yurkov et al., GCN 18877; Kruehler et al., GCN 18878, Malesani et al. GCN 18884, Hentunen et al. GCN 18885, de Ugarte Postigo et al. GCN 18886) is clearly detected in our images. Based on 29 min of total exposure in g'r'i'z' and 24 min in JHK at a midtime of 01:12 UT on 2016-01-18, we estimate the following preliminary magnitudes (all in the AB system): g' = 20.8 +- 0.1 mag r' = 20.7 +- 0.1 mag i' = 20.6 +- 0.1 mag z' = 20.4 +- 0.1 mag J = 20.0 +- 0.2 mag H = 19.8 +- 0.2 mag K > 18.9 mag Given magnitudes are calibrated against GROND zeropoints as well as 2MASS field stars and are not corrected for the expected Galactic foreground extinction corresponding to a reddening of E_(B-V)=0.058 mag in the direction of the burst (Schlafly & Finkbeiner 2011). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18894 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: Early iTelescope observation DATE: 16/01/19 04:56:17 GMT FROM: Takanori Sakamoto at AGU L. Izzo (URoma1/ICRA), T. Sakamot (AGU) We observed the field of GRB 160117B (Sonbas et al., GCN 18875; Evans et al., GCN 18883; Yurkov et al., GCN 18877; Kruehler et al., GCN 18878; Malesani et al., GCN 18884; Hentunen et al., GCN 18885) with the iTelescope.Net (http://www.itelescope.net) T17 (Plane Wave CDK 0.43m) telescope located at the Siding Spring Observatory (Australia). A single image of 300 s was taken in the R filter, starting at 14:10:03 UT, 636 s after the GRB trigger. We detect the GRB optical afterglow candidate and obtain a photometry estimate of R = 17.523 +- 0.126 using the USNO-B1 catalog. An image of the field of view can be seen at http://goo.gl/aesww1 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18898 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: further NOT optical observations of the afterglow DATE: 16/01/19 15:16:17 GMT FROM: Daniele Malesani at Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Inst D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), D. Xu (NAOC/CAS), C.E. Martinez-Vazquez (IAC-ULL), and P. Jakobsson (Univ. Iceland) report on behalf of a larger collaboration. We observed again the optical counterpart of GRB 160117B (Sonbas et al., GCN 18875), using the NOT equipped with the AlFOSC camera. Our observation was carried out in the R band and was composed of 4x300 s exposures, with mean time January 19.10 UT (1.52 days after the GRB). Compared to our previous observation (Malesani et al., GCN 18884), we find a decay slope alpha = 1.10 +- 0.05 (assuming a single power-law decay F propto t^-alpha). This decay is steeper than what reported at early time by Kruehler et al. (GCN 18878). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18900 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: RATIR Optical and NIR Observations DATE: 16/01/19 16:12:22 GMT FROM: Antonino Cucchiara at NASA/GSFC Antonino Cucchiara(GSFC/STScI),Nat Butler (ASU), Alan M. Watson (UNAM), Alexander Kutyrev (GSFC),William H. Lee (UNAM), Michael G. Richer (UNAM), Ori Fox (UCB), J. Xavier Prochaska (UCSC), Josh Bloom (UCB), Eleonora Troja (GSFC), Owen Littlejohns (ASU), Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz (UCSC), José A. de Diego (UNAM), Leonid Georgiev (UNAM), Jesús González (UNAM), Carlos Román-Zúñiga (UNAM), Neil Gehrels (GSFC), Harvey Moseley (GSFC), John Capone (UMD), V. Zach Golkhou (ASU), and Vicki Toy (UMD) report: We observed the field of GRB 160117B (Sonbas et al., GCN 18875) with the Reionization and Transients Infrared Camera (RATIR; www.ratir.org) on the 1.5m Harold Johnson Telescope at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional on Sierra San Pedro Mártir from 2016/01 19.19 to 2016/01 19.36 UTC (38.57 to 42.63 hours after the BAT trigger), obtaining a total of 2.76 hours exposure in the r, i, and z bands. For a source within the Swift-XRT error circle, in comparison with the USNO-B1 and 2MASS catalogs, we obtain the following upper limits (3-sigma): r > 23.57 i > 23.55 z > 19.97 These magnitudes are in the AB system and are not corrected for Galactic extinction in the direction of the GRB. We thank the staff of the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional in San Pedro Mártir. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18907 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: further RATIR observations DATE: 16/01/20 19:15:17 GMT FROM: Antonino Cucchiara at NASA/GSFC Antonino Cucchiara(GSFC/STScI),Nat Butler (ASU), Alan M. Watson (UNAM), Alexander Kutyrev (GSFC),William H. Lee (UNAM), Michael G. Richer (UNAM), Ori Fox (UCB), J. Xavier Prochaska (UCSC), Josh Bloom (UCB), Eleonora Troja (GSFC), Owen Littlejohns (ASU), Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz (UCSC), José A. de Diego (UNAM), Leonid Georgiev (UNAM), Jesús González (UNAM), Carlos Román-Zúñiga (UNAM), Neil Gehrels (GSFC), Harvey Moseley (GSFC), John Capone (UMD), V. Zach Golkhou (ASU), and Vicki Toy (UMD) report: We observed again the field of GRB 160117B (Sonbas et al., GCN 18875) with the Reionization and Transients Infrared Camera (RATIR; www.ratir.org ) on the 1.5m Harold Johnson Telescope at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional on Sierra San Pedro Mártir from 2016/01 20.21 to 2016/01 20.36 UTC (63.10 to 66.61 hours after the BAT trigger), obtaining a total of 2.51 hours exposure in the r and i bands. In comparison with the USNO-B1 and 2MASS catalogs, we obtain the following detections: r 23.04 +/- 0.27 i 22.20 +/- 0.12 Also, after further analysis of the RATIR full dataset on GRB 160117B from 2016/01 19.19 to 2016/01 19.36 UTC (38.57 to 42.63 hours after the BAT trigger) we report the following detections in r and i bands: r 22.30 +/- 0.11 i 21.96 +/- 0.08 The previously reported, incorrect, limits should not to be considered (GCN 18900). We thank the staff of the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional in San Pedro Mártir. We thank D. Malesani, the NOT, and GROND teams for encouraging us to reconsider our earlier observations. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18908 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: VLA Detection DATE: 16/01/21 01:51:32 GMT FROM: Kate Alexander at Harvard K. D. Alexander (Harvard), T. Laskar (NRAO / UC Berkeley), E. Berger (Harvard), and W. Fong (U. Arizona) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We observed GRB 160117B (Sonbas et al, GCN 18875) at multiple frequencies with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) beginning 2016 January 20.28 UT (2.70 days after the burst). At a mean frequency of 21.8 GHz, we detect a radio source with a preliminary flux density of ~ 0.1 mJy at RA = 08:48:46.737 +/- 0.5” Dec = -16:22:00.09 +/- 0.2” consistent with the enhanced Swift/XRT position (Evans et al., GCN 18880) and the optical position (Crueler et al,. GCN 18878; Hagen and Sonbas, GCN 18881). Follow-up observations are planned. We thank the VLA staff for rapidly executing these observations. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18915 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: TNG spectroscopy and redshift confirmation DATE: 16/01/21 15:31:14 GMT FROM: Valerio D'Elia at ASDC V. DElia (INAF-OAR/ASI-ASDC), A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), L. A. Antonelli (INAF-OAR/ASI-ASDC), D. Malesani (DARK/NBI) report on behalf of the CIBO collaboration: We observed the afterglow of GRB 160117B (Sonbas et al., GCN 18875) with the TNG equipped with DOLORES and the LR-B grism. The spectrum was acquired on 2016-01-18 and covers the range between 3000 and 7800 AA. The observation consisted of 2x1800 s exposures, starting at 01:31 UT (11.50 hr after the trigger). The optical counterpart is detected in the acquisition images with a magnitude of R = 20.3 +/- 0.2 at 11.5 hr after the GRB trigger, calibrated against USNO-B1 stars. The spectrum has a low S/N ratio but shows a clear continuum. Two absorption and an emission features are consistent with the Mg II doublet and the [O II] line at a redshift of z = 0.86 +/- 0.01, thus confirming what reported by de Ugarte Postigo et al. (GCN 18886). We thanks the TNG staff for excellent support, in particular Hristo Stoev and Luca Di Fabrizio. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 18916 SUBJECT: GRB 160117B: RATIR continued observations DATE: 16/01/21 17:11:22 GMT FROM: Antonino Cucchiara at NASA/GSFC Antonino Cucchiara(GSFC/STScI),Nat Butler (ASU), Alan M. Watson (UNAM), Alexander Kutyrev (GSFC),William H. Lee (UNAM), Michael G. Richer (UNAM), Ori Fox (UCB), J. Xavier Prochaska (UCSC), Josh Bloom (UCB), Eleonora Troja (GSFC), Owen Littlejohns (ASU), Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz (UCSC), Jos A. de Diego (UNAM), Leonid Georgiev (UNAM), Jess Gonzlez (UNAM), Carlos Romn-Ziga (UNAM), Neil Gehrels (GSFC), Harvey Moseley (GSFC), John Capone (UMD), V. Zach Golkhou (ASU), and Vicki Toy (UMD) report: We continued observing the field of GRB 160117B with the Reionization and Transients Infrared Camera (RATIR; www.ratir.org ) on the 1.5m Harold Johnson Telescope at the Observatorio Astronmico Nacional on Sierra San Pedro Mrtir from 2016/01 21.17 to 2016/01 21.51 UTC (86.20 to 94.28 hours after the BAT trigger), obtaining a total of 6.26 hours exposure in the r and i bands. The optical afterglow is still detected and in comparison with the USNO-B1 catalog, we obtain the following detections: r 22.91 +/- 0.17 i 22.39 +/- 0.10 These magnitudes are in the AB system and are not corrected for Galactic extinction in the direction of the GRB. We thank the staff of the Observatorio Astronmico Nacional in San Pedro Mrtir. [GCN OPS NOTE(21jan16): The GRB name in the Subject-line was corrected "16017" --> "160117".]