TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 8828 SUBJECT: GRB 090118: Swift-XRT observations DATE: 09/01/19 17:41:00 GMT FROM: Antonia Rowlinson at U.of Leicester GRB 090118: Swift-XRT observations B.A. Rowlinson and K.L. Page (U. Leicester) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team:   Swift-XRT began a 6 ks follow-up ToO observation of the likely BAT Slew Survey GRB 090118 (Copete et al., GCN Circ. 8825) 25.3 ks after the start of the slew during which the burst was detected. No X-ray source is detected within the 3.69 arcmin error circle, with a 3-sigma upper limit of 5.8x10^-3 count s^-1.   However, there is a source just outside the 90% error circle, at a position of RA, Dec = 49.8276, 18.4148, which is equivalent to:   RA (J2000) = 03 19 18.62 Dec (J2000) = +18 24 53.3   with an uncertainty of 7.1 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence). This is a distance of 260.9 arcsec from the BATSS position.This source has a count rate of (9.0 +/- 2.2)x10^-3 count s^-1 in the first 1.6 ks of data and appears to be fading to a count rate of (5.0 +/- 1.4)x10^-3 count s^-1 in the last 4.2 ks of data. A spectrum extracted for this source can be fitted with a power-law of spectral index Gamma = 5.9 (+1.8, -1.4) with an absorbing column density of 4.6 (+3.1, -2.2) x 10^21 cm^-2, in excess of/consistent with the Galactic column in this direction of 8.9x10^20 cm^-2. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.