//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12632 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: Swift detection of a long burst with an optical counterpart DATE: 11/12/09 07:42:40 GMT FROM: David Palmer at LANL E. A. Hoversten (PSU), P. A. Evans (U Leicester), C. Guidorzi (U Ferrara), A. Y. Lien (NASA/GSFC/ORAU), C. Pagani (U Leicester), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), M. H. Siegel (PSU), M. C. Stroh (PSU), G. Tagliaferri (INAF-OAB) and B.-B. Zhang (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 07:12:08 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 111209A (trigger=509336). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 14.360, -46.788 which is RA(J2000) = 00h 57m 26s Dec(J2000) = -46d 47' 17" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). After the original 320 second long image trigger, the source caused a second trigger (#509337) over the 64 second time interval starting at T+424s, at much higher intensity. The XRT began observing the field at 07:19:07.2 UT, 418.9 seconds after the BAT trigger. XRT found a bright, uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 14.3462, -46.8005 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 00h 57m 23.08s Dec(J2000) = -46d 48' 01.7" with an uncertainty of 4.7 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 56 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the BAT error circle. No event data are yet available to determine the column density using X-ray spectroscopy. The initial flux in the 2.5 s image was 1.20e-08 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10 keV). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 427 seconds after the BAT trigger. There is a candidate afterglow in the rapidly available 2.7'x2.7' sub-image at approximately the same position as the XRT source with a magnitude of 18.1. No correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.02. 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: 12633 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: TAROT La Silla observatory optical detection DATE: 11/12/09 07:58:01 GMT FROM: Alain Klotz at CESR-CNRS Klotz A. (CESR-OMP), Gendre B. (ASDC), Boer M. (OHP-OAMP), Atteia J.L. (LATT-OMP) report: We imaged the field of GRB 111209A detected by SWIFT (trigger 509336) with the TAROT robotic telescope (D=25cm) located at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla observatory, Chile. The observations started 358s after the GRB trigger. The elevation of the field decreased from 13 degrees above horizon and weather conditions were good. We detected the candidate couterpart mentioned by Hoversten et al. (GCNC 12632) at the following position (+/- 1 arcsec): RA(J2000.0) = 00h 57m 22.7s DEC(J2000.0) -46d 48' 05" OT peaked at R~16.2 about 680s after GRB. Magnitudes were estimated with the nearby USNO-B1 stars and are not corrected for galactic dust extinction. This message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12634 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: REM NIR detection DATE: 11/12/09 08:05:21 GMT FROM: Stefano Covino at Brera Astronomical Observatory D. Fugazza, S. Covino (INAF/OAB), E. Palazzi (INAF/IASF-Bo), L.A. Antonelli (INAF/Rome), on behalf of a larger collaboration, report: The robotic 60-cm REM telescope located at La Silla (Chile) observed automatically the field of GRB 111209A (Hoversten et al. GCN 12632) with the ROSS optical and REMIR near-infrared cameras in imaging mode. Observations started about 30 s after the Swift alert (about 5 min after the reported burst time) when the field was only 13 deg on the local horizon. Summing H band images from 7 to 13 min after the burst a weak counterpart is visible at coordinates RA=00:57:22.78 DEC=-46:48:04.2 (error approximately 0.5 arcsec on both axes) and with magnitude H = 14.7 +- 0.2, calibrated against the 2MASS catalogue. The source is coincident with the optical counterpart reported by Klotz et al. (GCN 12633). Further observations are in progress. [GCN OPS NOTE(09dec11): Per author's request, LA was added to the author list.] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12635 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: Faulkes Telescope North observations DATE: 11/12/09 10:29:53 GMT FROM: Cristiano Guidorzi at Ferrara U,Italy C. Guidorzi (U. Ferrara), A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), S. Kobayashi, C.G. Mundell (LJMU), A. Gomboc (U. Ljubljana) report on behalf of the LJMU GRB group: The 2-m Faulkes Telescope North robotically followed up Swift GRB 111209A (Hoversten et al. GCN Circ. 12632) from 07:20:00 UT, corresponding to 7.9 minutes after the BAT trigger time. Within the XRT error circle we clearly detect the optical afterglow in the i' filter reported by Klotz et al. (GCN 12633) and Fugazza et al. (GCN 12634) with the following magnitude: Mid time from Total Exp Filter Magnitude trigger (s) (s) ------------------------------------------------- 697 30 i' 18.3 +- 0.2 ------------------------------------------------- Magnitude has been calibrated from I nominal values of nearby USNOB1.0 stars. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12637 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: TAROT La Silla observatory optical light curve analysis DATE: 11/12/09 13:59:58 GMT FROM: Alain Klotz at CESR-CNRS Klotz A. (IRAP-OMP), Gendre B. (ASDC), Boer M. (OHP-OAMP), Atteia J.L. (IRAP-OMP) report: We obtained an optical follow-up until 4500 seconds after the trigger of GRB 111209A detected by SWIFT (trigger 509336-7) using the TAROT robotic telescope (D=25cm) located at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla observatory, Chile. In this GCN circular we describe the behaviour of the optical transcient discovered by Hoversten et al. (GCNC 12632). From 470s to 2000s, we observe a fluctuating optical emission at a mean level R~17.5 that reaches sometimes R=16.6. From 2100s to 2550s we recorded an optical flash that reached R=15.4. This peak is followed by a plateau R=16.3 between 2700s to 3700s. After 3700s the flux seems begin to decrease but the low elevation 5 degrees above horizon does not allow to conclude definitively about the phase decay. All the magnitudes are based on the assumption that the color index of the GRB in optical wavelengths is the same as the reference star NOMAD1 0431-0011481 (V-R=0.34). This message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12638 SUBJECT: GRB111209A : planned XMM-Newton observation DATE: 11/12/09 16:05:56 GMT FROM: Bruce Gendre at ASDC B. Gendre (ASDC/INAF-OAR), J.L. Atteia (IRAP-OMP), M. Boër (OHP-OAMP), A. Klotz (IRAP-OMP), L. Piro (INAF-IASF-Roma), G. Stratta (ASDC/INAF-OAR), on behaf of a larger collaboration, report : Following the trigger of the exceptionally long and bright GRB 111209A, we have activated a 50 ks (net) TOO on XMM-Newton starting on 2011-12-09:22:12:58 UT. We encourage any simultaneous follow-up of this event at any wavelength. This message can be quoted. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12639 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: Enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 11/12/09 17:10:26 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 2386 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 3 UVOT images for GRB 111209A, 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 = 14.34424, -46.80112 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 00h 57m 22.62s Dec (J2000): -46d 48' 04.0" with an uncertainty of 1.4 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: 12640 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A, Swift-BAT refined analysis DATE: 11/12/09 18:58:12 GMT FROM: Takanori Sakamoto at NASA/GSFC D. M. Palmer (LANL), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), J. R. Cummings (GSFC/UMBC), E. E. Fenimore (LANL), N. Gehrels (GSFC), H. A. Krimm (GSFC/USRA), C. B. Markwardt (GSFC), T. Sakamoto (GSFC/UMBC), G. Sato (ISAS), M. Stamatikos (OSU), J. Tueller (GSFC), T. N. Ukwatta (MSU) (i.e. the Swift-BAT team): Using the data set from the recent telemetry downlink, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 111209A (trigger #509336 and #509337) (Hoversten, et al., GCN Circ. 12632). The BAT ground-calculated position using the event data of trigger #509337 (on-axis observation) is RA, Dec = 14.350, -46.799 deg which is RA(J2000) = 00h 57m 24.1s Dec(J2000) = -46d 47' 57.1" with an uncertainty of 1.0 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment). The partial coding was 100%. The mask-weighted light curve shows an excess rate already around T-150 s when the spacecraft settled to the pre-planned target (T is the BAT trigger time of #509336, which is 07:12:08.3 UT). A gradual increase in the rate continues up to T+850s. And then, the rate started to decay. The positive rate is still seen at T+1400 s where the end of the event data. Further analysis using the BAT survey data is on-going to address the duration of this event detected by BAT. The time-averaged spectrum from 358 to 1337 sec is best fit by a simple power-law model. The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is 1.48 +- 0.03. The fluence in the 15-150 keV band measured during this time interval is 3.6 +- 0.1 x 10^-05 erg/cm2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T+824 sec in the 15-150 keV band is 0.5 +- 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/509336/BA/ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/notices_s/509337/BA/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12641 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: Swift Burst of Interest DATE: 11/12/09 19:04:03 GMT FROM: Erik Hoversten at Swift/Penn State E. A. Hoversten (PSU), D.N. Burrows (PSU), S. Campana (INAF-OAB), P. A. Evans (U Leicester), N. Gehrels (GSFC), D. Grupe (PSU), M. H. Siegel (PSU), report on behalf of the Swift team: We report an update on Swift observations of the unusual event GRB 111209A. BAT triggered twice and is saw extended duration emission from this event. It peaked at 900s and decreased in flux after 1100s, but continued well beyond that to >10ks. We have analyzed 11.9 ks of XRT data for GRB 111209A (Hoversten et al. GCN Circ. 12632), from 425 s to 25.16 ks after the BAT trigger. The data contain 9.4 ks in Windowed Timing (WT) mode data and the remainder in photon counting (pc) mode. The light curve is highly complicated showing multiple flares. The afterglow is very bright and XRT remained in WT mode through 4 orbits (20ks after the trigger). The light curve after the fourth orbit suggests a sharp drop in the count rate from about 14 counts s^-1 at the end of the forth orbit to 5 counts s^-1 at the beginning of the fifth orbit. The data of the 5th orbit were entirely taken in photon counting (pc) mode and the decay slope steepens significantly. The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 111209A 427 s after the BAT trigger. The afterglow is clearly detected in all seven UVOT filters. We find a refined UVOT position of RA (J2000) 00:57:22.63 = 14.34429 (deg) Dec (J2000) -46:48:03.8 = -46.80106 (deg) with an estimated uncertainty of 0.5 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence, statistical + systematic). This position is 0.25 arcseconds from the UVOT-enhanced XRT position, which is within the errors. The white, v, and b filter show a fading source over the first orbit, however at the end of the first orbit the white magnitude increases abruptly by 0.6 magnitudes corresponding with a significant flare in the X-rays. The v, b, u, uvw1, and uvm2 magnitudes show a rebrightening between 5.4 and 7 ks after the burst of 0.3 to 1.1 magnitudes. The data from all three instrument is similar is several ways to GRB 060218, the long event associated with SN2006aj, and to GRB 101225A, the Christmas burst. The detection in all UVOT filters implies a low redshift of z < 1.6. We note that at 18 ks after the burst the source is still at 18th magnitude in the white filter which is extremely unusual. Given the rare behavior exhibited by GRB 111209A we advocate for additional observations at all wavelengths. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12642 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: Swift UVOT refined analysis DATE: 11/12/09 19:22:04 GMT FROM: Erik Hoversten at Swift/Penn State E. A. Hoversten (PSU) and M. H. Siegel (PSU), report on behalf of the UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 111209A 427 s after the BAT trigger (Hoversten et al., GCN Circ. 12632). The afterglow is clearly detected in all seven UVOT filters. We find a refined UVOT position of RA (J2000) 00:57:22.63 = 14.34429 (deg) Dec (J2000) -46:48:03.8 = -46.80106 (deg) with an estimated uncertainty of 0.5 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence, statistical + systematic). This position is 0.25 arcseconds from the UVOT-enhanced XRT position (Evans et al., GCN Circ. 12639), which is within the errors. The white, v, and b filters show a fading source over the first orbit, however at the end of the first orbit the white magnitude increases abruptly by 0.6 magnitudes corresponding with a significant flare in the X-rays. The v, b, u, uvw1, and uvm2 magnitudes show a rebrightening between 5.4 and 7 ks after the burst of 0.3 to 1.1 magnitudes. Preliminary magnitudes 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 Err white_FC 427 577 147 17.94 0.04 white 855 1005 147 17.73 0.04 white 1856 1876 19 18.01 0.11 white 2030 2050 19 17.40 0.08 v 584 603 19 17.25 0.24 b 1134 1154 19 18.16 0.21 u 6064 6264 196 18.11 0.09 w1 633 653 19 17.16 0.24 m2 5653 5853 196 18.23 0.17 w2 5244 5443 196 17.96 0.12 The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.02 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). The data from all three instrument is similar is several ways to GRB 060218, the long event associated with SN2006aj, and to GRB 101225A, the Christmas burst. The detection in all UVOT filters implies a low redshift of z < 1.6. We note that at 18 ks after the burst the source is still at 18th magnitude in the white filter which is extremely unusual. Given the rare behavior exhibited by GRB 111209A we advocate for additional observations at all wavelengths. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12643 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 11/12/09 19:34:18 GMT FROM: Dirk Grupe at PSU/Swift-XRT D. Grupe (PSU) and E. A. Hoversten (PSU) reports on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analyzed 11 ks of XRT data for GRB 111209A (Hoversten et al. GCN Circ. 12632), from 425 s to 25.2 ks after the BAT trigger. The data comprise 9.4 ks 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 12639). The light curve can be modeled with a series of power-law decays. The light curve initially rises, with an index alpha=-0.21 (+/-0.04). At T+864 s it breaks to an alpha of 7.3 (+0.7, -2.6). The light curve breaks again at T+899 s to a decay with alpha=0.679 (+0.012, -0.087), and again at T+5807 s s to alpha=1.179 (+/-0.016), before a final break at T+19.4 ks s after which the decay index is 6.3 (+1.2, -0.4). A spectrum formed from the WT mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.333 (+/-0.012). The best-fitting absorption column is 1.38 (+/-0.04) x 10^21 cm^-2, in excess of the Galactic value of 1.5 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Kalberla et al. 2005). The PC mode spectrum has a photon index of 1.83 (+0.17, -0.16) and a best-fitting absorption column of 1.3 (+0.5, -0.4) x 10^21 cm^-2. The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 4.1 x 10^-11 (5.2 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 1.3 (+0.5, -0.4) x 10^21 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 1.5 x 10^20 cm^-2 Excess significance: 4.4 sigma Photon index: 1.83 (+0.17, -0.16) The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00509336. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12645 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: PROMPT optical observations of early afterglow DATE: 11/12/09 22:54:13 GMT FROM: Melissa Nysewander at UNC-Chapel Hill M. Nysewander, J. Haislip, A. LaCluyze, K. Ivarsen, D. Reichart, J. Moore, A. Trotter, R. Egger, A. Foster, A. Oza, T. Cromartie, E. Speckhard, and J. A. Crain report: Skynet observed the field of GRB 111209A with the PROMPT telescopes located at CTIO in Chile. Observations began in VRI at 378 sec (34 sec after the alert) and lasted for 13.2 min before the source set below PROMPT's elevation constraints. We detect the fading afterglow discovered by Hoversten et al. (GCN 12632). Preliminary calibration to USNO B1.0 catalog stars yields the follow initial detections: Start Time t - t0 Exp Telescope Filter Mag Err 07:18:28 380s 40s Prompt5 I 18.0 0.20 07:18:31 383s 40s Prompt4 R 18.3 0.30 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12646 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A optical limit by "Pi of the Sky" DATE: 11/12/09 23:59:27 GMT FROM: Marcin Sokolowski at Soltan Inst. Nuc Studies,Warsaw M.Sokolowski,A.Majcher,T.Batsch,A.Majczyna,K.Nawrocki,G.Wrochna (NCNR,Swierk), M.Cwiok,W.Dominik,L.W.Piotrowski,A.F.Zarnecki (University of Warsaw), K.Malek,L.Mankiewicz,R.Opiela,M.Siudek,V.Repei (CFT PAN), G.Kasprowicz,M.Zaremba (Warsaw University of Technology), from the "Pi of the Sky" collaboration (http://grb.fuw.edu.pl). The wide field "Pi of the Sky South" apparatus, installed in the private observatory of Alain Maury in San Pedro de Atacama (http://grb.fuw.edu.pl/pi/index.html#spda_site.htm) observed the position of GRB 111209A ( SWIFT trigger #590336 ). Three 10s images of this field have been taken at 01:59:03 - 01:59:51 UT ( 5 hours 13 min 5 sec before the first BAT alert ). No new object can be seen within the error box and the limit on 3 coadded images is 12.7 mag. After receiving the trigger from SWIFT, the field was observed 480 seconds after the GRB. The field has been observed in time period from 7:20:09 to 7:44:25 UT, no new object brighter than 10.2 mag was observed on 10s images. The limit on 20 coadded images is 10.7 mag. Limits are based on the reference star magnitudo in V filter. We acknowladge great support received from Alain Maury at SPdA Observatory. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12647 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: GROND Afterglow observations DATE: 11/12/10 05:52:24 GMT FROM: Alexander Kann at TLS Tautenburg D. A. Kann, S. Klose (TLS Tautenburg), T. Kruehler (DARK/NBI) and J. Greiner, (MPE Garching) report on behalf of the GROND team: We observed the field of the "Swift Burst of Interest" GRB 111209A (Swift trigger 509336 and 509337; Hoversten et al., GCN #12612) simultaneously in g'r'i'z'JHK with GROND (Greiner et al. 2008, PASP, 120, 405) mounted at the 2.2 m ESO/MPG telescope at La Silla Observatory (Chile). Observations started on December 10, 2011, at 00:56 UT, 0.74 days after the GRB trigger, during twilight. They were performed at an average seeing of 0".9 and at an airmass of 1. At the position of the optical afterglow (Klotz et al., GCN #12633; Fugazza et al., GCN #12634; Guidorzi et al., GCN #12635; Hoversten & Siegel, GCN #12642; Nysewander et al., GCN #12645), we clearly detect a source in single 35 second integrations in g'r'i'z'. Based on co-added images of 142 s integration time in g'r'i'z' and 240 s in JHK, centered 0.74144 days after the trigger, the following magnitudes (AB magnitude system) have been derived: g' = 20.3 +/- 0.1 r' = 20.1 +/- 0.1 i' = 19.9 +/- 0.1 z' = 19.8 +/- 0.1 J = 19.3 +/ 0.2 H = 19.0 +/- 0.2 K = 18.6 +/- 0.4 The spectral slope is found to be beta ~0.8, which is typical for a GRB afterglow, and dissimilar to thermally dominated emission. Magnitudes were calibrated against an SDSS standard field in g'r'i'z' and 2MASS field stars in JHK. Observations have continued at high cadence under excellent conditions. We note these observations are contemporaneous to the planned XMM-Newton observation (Gendre et al., GCN #12638). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12648 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: VLT/X-shooter redshift DATE: 11/12/10 06:05:55 GMT FROM: Paul Vreeswijk at U of Iceland Paul Vreeswijk (U. Iceland), Johan Fynbo (DARK), Andrea Melandri (INAF-OAB) report on behalf of the X-shooter GTO GRB afterglow collaboration: The afterglow of Swift GRB 111209A (Hoversten et al., GCN 12632, Klotz et al., GCN 12633, Fugazza et al., GCN 12634) was observed with the X-shooter spectrograph mounted at the Kueyen unit of the VLT on Cerro Paranal, Chile. Starting around 1 UT on 10 December 2011 (0.75 days after the burst), a series of four spectra of 1200s each were secured, covering the approximate wavelength range 0.3-2.5 micron. The slit width was set to 1", resulting in a resolving power range of 4500-7500. Preliminary reduction of the ultraviolet and visual parts of the spectra shows a smooth continuum with several absorption features that we can identify with resonance absorption lines of FeII, MgII, MgI, CaII H and K at a redshift of z=0.677; this is the likely redshift of GRB 111209A. We acknowledge the excellent support from the Paranal Observatory staff, in particular Willem-Jan de Wit, Dimitri Gadotti and Marcelo Lopez. We are also very grateful for the flexibility and willingness of the VLT-I visiting astronomer, Stefan Kraus, to shift his observations to the end of the night, which have made these X-shooter observations possible. [GCN OPS NOTE(10dec11): Per author's request, the last paragraph was expanded.] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12649 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: IRTF NIR Imaging/Spectroscopy DATE: 11/12/10 11:59:38 GMT FROM: Myungshin Im at Seoul Nat U Myungshin Im, Hyunsung Jun, and Dohyeong Kim (CEOU/Seoul National Univ) We observed GRB 111209A (Hoversten et al., GCN 12632) using SpeX on IRTF. The observation started at 12-09-07:42:13 UT, or about 0.5 hrs after the BAT alert. H-band images were taken using a guider camera revealing a bright NIR counterpart with its flux at H~12 mag. Note that calibration is done by an observation of a standard star next night and needs a further refinement. NIR spectra were taken at 0.8-2.5 micron with R=750 for about 24 min, starting at ~35 min after the BAT alert, showing good S/N but no obvious features in raw spectra. Analysis of the spectral/imaging data is onging. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12656 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: Rebrightening seen by GROND DATE: 11/12/10 23:45:21 GMT FROM: Alexander Kann at TLS Tautenburg D. A. Kann (TLS Tautenburg), and J. Greiner, (MPE Garching) report on behalf of the GROND team: We have analyzed the J-band observations (Kann et al., GCN #12647) obtained with GROND over a total of five hours (0.74 to 0.93 days after the trigger) of GRB 111209A (Hoversten et al., GCN #12632). Astrometry and calibration were obtained against the 2MASS catalog. We find the afterglow experiences a strong rise during our observations, rising from J ~ 19.3 to J ~ 18.8 (AB Magnitudes). The slope of the rise is alpha < -2 (assuming F(t) propto t^-alpha). This behavior may be due to a strong energy injection. Highly variable behavior in the first hours has already been reported by Klotz et al. (GCN #12637) and Hoversten & Siegel (GCN #12642). Dense photometric follow-up is strongly encouraged. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12663 SUBJECT: Konus-Wind observation of GRB 111209A DATE: 11/12/11 14:10:38 GMT FROM: Valentin Pal'shin at Ioffe Inst S. Golenetskii, R.Aptekar, E. Mazets, V. Pal'shin, D. Frederiks, P. Oleynik, M. Ulanov, D. Svinkin, and T. Cline on behalf of the Konus-Wind team report: The exceptionally long GRB 111209A (Swift-BAT trigger #509336: Hoversten et al., GCN 12632; Palmer et al., GCN 12640) was detected by Konus-Wind in the waiting mode. The burst light curve shows the main multipeaked episode of emission started at ~T0(BAT)-1900 s and lasted until ~T0(BAT)+4400 s (the duration is ~6300 s; T0(BAT)=25928 s UT (07:12:08)). There is also a weaker broad pulse of emission seen before the main pulse from ~T0(BAT)-5400 s to ~T0(BAT)-2600 s and a hint of an additional episode of emission after the main pulse from ~T0(BAT)+5000 s to ~T0(BAT)+10000 s. Both these episodes might be related to GRB 111209A (they were detected by the same KW detector, and the KW ecliptic latitude responses for them are consistent with the common origin with the main episode). The most intense peak in the Konus-Wind light curve, (which started at ~T0+1740 s, peaked at ~T0+2040 s, and ended at ~T0+2300 s), corresponds to a significant raise in the XRT lc (http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_curves/00509336/ - Grupe & Hoversten GCN 12643) and a bright optical flash (Klotz et al., GCN 12637). As observed by Konus-Wind, the burst (the main episode) had a fluence of (4.86 ± 0.61)x10^-4 erg/cm2 (in the 20 - 1400 keV energy range). Modeling the KW 3-channel time-integrated spectrum (from T0-1890 s to T0+4400 s) by a power law with exponential cutoff model: dN/dE ~ (E^alpha)*exp(-E*(2+alpha)/Ep) yields alpha = -1.31 ± 0.09, and Ep = 310 ± 53 keV. Assuming z = 0.677 (Vreeswijk, Fynbo, & Melandri GCN 12648) and a standard cosmology model with H_0 = 71 km/s/Mpc, Omega_M = 0.27, Omega_Lambda = 0.73, the isotropic energy release, E_iso, is (5.82 ± 0.73)x10^53 erg, and Ep_rest is 520 ± 89 keV. Thus, the prompt gamma-ray emission properties of this GRB: fluence, Ep, and E_iso are similar to those observed in other long energetic GRBs. The only exceptional feature of the prompt gamma-ray emission is the huge duration. All the quoted errors are estimated at the 1 sigma confidence level. All the presented results are preliminary. The K-W light curve of this burst is available at http://www.ioffe.rssi.ru/LEA/GRBs/GRB111209A/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12664 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A - ATCA 34GHz upper limit DATE: 11/12/12 03:58:18 GMT FROM: Paul Hancock at U of Sydney Paul J. Hancock, Tara Murphy, Bryan Gaensler (U of Sydney), Ashley Zauderer (Harvard) On the 11th December 04:44-05:50UT (T=+1.9days) we observed GRB 111209A (GCN12632) with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at 34GHz. We do not detect any radio emission consistent with the GRB optical position (GCN12642). We place a 3sigma upper limit of 132uJy on the flux of the afterglow. Further observations are planned. We thank the staff of the ATCA for their help in organising these observations. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12684 SUBJECT: GRB 111209A: RAPTOR Limits Before and During the Gamma-ray Emitting Interval DATE: 11/12/15 17:32:20 GMT FROM: James Wren at LANL J. Wren, W. T. Vestrand, P. Wozniak, and H. Davis of Los Alamos National Laboratory report: The RAPTOR wide-field optical monitors were observing the location of GRB 111209A (Hoversten et al., GCN 12632) during the gamma-ray emitting interval as seen by the Swift BAT (Palmer et al., GCN 12640). Our system acquired 10 s exposures at 20 s intervals during the entire emission period. We have analyzed the the 77 images taken between T-150 and T+1400 and we do not detect the counterpart to a typical 3-sigma limiting magnitude of 10.3. Our unfiltered images were calibrated to the Tycho-2 V-band. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12804 SUBJECT: GRB111209A: ATCA detection at 5.5, 9, and 18GHz DATE: 12/01/04 05:37:27 GMT FROM: Paul Hancock at U of Sydney Paul J. Hancock, Tara Murphy, Bryan Gaensler (U of Sydney), Ashley Zauderer (Harvard) Following our 34GHz non-detection (GCN12664) we observed GRB 111209A (GCN12632) with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at 5.5, 9, and 18GHz on the 14th of December (T=+5.1days). The mean observing time was 11:12UT at 5.5 and 9GHz, and 11:47UT at 18GHz. We easily detect the GRB at each frequency as listed below: Freq Flux 5.5GHz 0.85+/-0.04mJy 9GHz 0.97+/-0.06mJy 18GHz 3.23+/-0.05mJy We thank the staff of the ATCA for their help in organising these observations.