//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12681 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 11/12/15 14:18:28 GMT FROM: Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC S. R. Oates (UCL-MSSL), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), D. N. Burrows (PSU), J. R. Cummings (NASA/UMBC), V. D'Elia (ASDC), C. Guidorzi (U Ferrara), S. T. Holland (CRESST/USRA/GSFC), H. A. Krimm (CRESST/GSFC/USRA), N. P. M. Kuin (UCL-MSSL), V. Mangano (INAF-IASFPA), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), C. J. Mountford (U Leicester), P. T. O'Brien (U Leicester), J. P. Osborne (U Leicester), C. Pagani (U Leicester), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL), P. Romano (INAF-IASFPA), M. H. Siegel (PSU), R. L. C. Starling (U Leicester), T. N. Ukwatta (MSU) and B.-B. Zhang (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 14:04:08 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 111215A (trigger=509717). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 349.548, +32.475 which is RA(J2000) = 23h 18m 12s Dec(J2000) = +32d 28' 32" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). As is usual for an image trigger, the BAT light curve shows nothing of note. The XRT began observing the field at 14:11:06.0 UT, 417.7 seconds after the BAT trigger. XRT found a bright, uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 349.5578, 32.4938 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = +23h 18m 13.87s Dec(J2000) = +32d 29' 37.7" with an uncertainty of 5.3 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 73 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 1.51e-09 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10 keV). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 426 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 0.06. Burst Advocate for this burst is S. R. Oates (sro AT mssl.ucl.ac.uk). 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: 12682 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A : Xinglong TNT upper limit DATE: 11/12/15 15:38:37 GMT FROM: L.P. Xin at NAOC L.P. Xin, J.Y. Wei, Y. L. Qiu, J. Wang, J.S. Deng, C. Wu, X. H. Han on behalf of EAFON report: We began to observe GRB 111215A ( Oates et al., GCN 12681) with Xinglong TNT telescope at 14:20:23 (UT), about 16.25 min after the burst. 30 R-band images were obtained. The exposure time is 60 sec for each frame. No new source was detected in the combined R band image within the errorbox of XRT position. The upper limit was estimated to be about 18.0 mag derived from USNO B1.0 R2 mag, at the mean time of 32.75 min after the burst. This message may be cited. For more information about Xinglong GRBs Follow-up observations, please visit the website: http://www.xinglong-naoc.org:8080/grb/index.html" //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12683 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: GMG optical upper limit DATE: 11/12/15 17:07:53 GMT FROM: Dong Xu at Weizmann Inst D. Xu (WIS/NAOC), X.-H. Zhao (YNAO), J.-R. Mao (KASI/YNAO), J.-M. Bai (YNAO) report: We observed the field of GRB 111215A (Oates et al., GCN 12681) at the 2.4m Gao-Mei-Gu (GMG) telescope equipped with YFOSC. Observations started at 14:26:44 UT (i.e., 22.6 mins after the burst) and a series of R-band images (totally 1700s exposure) were obtained in a seeing of ~2.8". No optical source was detected within the XRT error circle (ref., GCN 12681) to a 3sigma limit of R~22.8 mag, calibrated with nearby USNO B1 stars. The image trigger mode of this burst and the above R-band upper limit might indicate high-redshift. NIR follow-ups are encouraged. We thank the GMG staff, especially Y.-X. Xin, D.-Q. Wang, and Y.-D. Lang for performing the observations. [GCN OPS NOTE(15dec11): Par author's request, the last sentence was added.] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12685 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: MITSuME Akeno Optical upper limits DATE: 11/12/15 17:39:51 GMT FROM: Yoichi Yatsu at Tokyo Tech. R. Usui, Y. Aoki, S. Song, M. Hayashi, K. Kawakami, K. Tokoyoda, Y. Saito, Y. Yatsu, and N. Kawai (Tokyo Tech) report on behalf of the MITSuME collaboration: We observed GRB 111215A (S. R. Oates et al, GCN12681) 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 387 sec after the BAT trigger from 2011-12-15 14:10:35 UT. And we did not find any new point source within the XRT error circle (S. R. Oates et al, GCN12681) 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 387 14:33:55 2700 > 19.3 > 19.4 > 19.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- T0+ : Elapsed time after the burst [sec] T-EXP: Total Exposure time [sec] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12686 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A, Optical Observations DATE: 11/12/15 17:48:48 GMT FROM: Rupak Roy at ARIES S. B. Pandey, Rupak Roy, Brajesh Kumar and R. K. S. Yadav (ARIES, NainiTal, India, on behalf of larger Indian GRB collaboration). GRB 111215A field, localized by Swift (Oates et al., GCN 12681), was observed with 1.04m telescope at ARIES NainiTal starting 14:22:30 UT (~18 minutes after the burst) in R_c pass-band with an exposure time of 300 sec each. Photometry of the co-added R_c frame (300 sec x 6) in comparison to nearby USNO stars did not detect any new source within the XRT error-box down to a limiting magnitude of ~ 21.5 mag. This message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12687 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: MASTER-Net optical prompt and follow up observations DATE: 11/12/15 17:53:12 GMT FROM: Vladimir Lipunov at Moscow State U/Krylov Obs E. Gorbovskoy, V. Lipunov, V.Kornilov, D.Kuvshinov, A.Belinski, N.Tyurina, N.Shatskiy, P.Balanutsa, V.V.Chazov, A.Kuznetsov, D.Zimnukhov, M. Kornilov, A.Kuznetsov, D.Zimnukhov, M. Kornilov, A.Sankovich, S. Shurpakov Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University K.Ivanov, V.A.Poleshchuk, S.Yazev, N.M.Budnev, O.Gres, O.Chuvalaev,E.Konstantinov, Irkutsk State University E. Sinykov, V.Yurkov, Yu.Sergienko, D.Varda, Blagoveschensk Educational State University, Blagoveschensk A. Tlatov, A.V. Parhomenko, D. Dormidontov, V.Sennik Kislovodsk Solar Station of the Pulkovo Observatory V.Krushinski, I.Zalozhnich, T.Kopytova, A. Popov Ural State University, Kourovka 3 Robotic telescopes MASTER II was pointing to the GRB111215A (Oates et al., GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12681). Two very wide field cameras was observed Swift error box before, during and after GRB trigger time. MASTER II robotic telescope (MASTER-Net: http://observ.pereplet.ru) located in Tunka(Siberia) was pointed to the GRB111215A 26 sec s after notice time and 381 sec after GRB time at 2011-12-15 14:10:29.44 UT in two polarizarions. On our first (80s exposure) set we haven`t found optical transient within SWIFT error-box (ra=23 18 12 dec=+32 28 47 r=0.050000). The 5-sigma upper limit has been about 18.8 mag MASTER II robotic telescope located in MASTER-Amur was pointed to the GRB111215A 214 sec s after notice time and 567 sec after GRB time at 2011-12-15 14:13:35.289 UT in two diagonal polarizarions. On our first (110s exposure) set we haven`t found optical transient within SWIFT error-box. The 5-sigma upper limit has been about 17.5 mag MASTER II robotic telescope located near Kislovodsk was pointed to the GRB111215A 7655 sec s after notice time and 8007 sec after GRB time at 2011-12-15 16:17:35.91 UT (time delay is so long due to weather conditions). On our first (180s exposure) set we haven`t found optical transient within SWIFT error-box. The 5-sigma upper limit has been about 18.1 mag Two MASTER Very Wide Field Cameras located at Tunka (D=68 mm, 420 square degrees, 11 Mpx) was observed GRB error box with 5 s exposure befoure, during and after GRB Trigger Time without time gap between images. Our unfiltered images are calibrated relative to Tycho stars (V). The magnitude limit of the each emage is 12.0 m at the edge of FOW. We do not detect OT. The video from MASTER VWF cameras is available at http://master.sai.msu.ru/static/GRB111215/grb111215.html The reduction is continuated. The message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12688 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: OSN I-band observations DATE: 11/12/15 21:05:16 GMT FROM: Javier Gorosabel at IAA-CSIC F. Aceituno (OSN,IAA-CSIC), A.J. Castro-Tirado, A. de Ugarte Postigo, J.C. Tello, J. Gorosabel (IAA-CSIC), report on behalf of a larger collaboration: "We have observed the field of GRB 111215A (Oates et al., GCN 12681) with the 1.5m telescope at Observatorio de Sierra Nevada (OSN), Granada, Spain. The data were acquired in the I-band on Dec 15.7537 -- Dec. 15.8168 UT (starting ~4 hour post burst), with a total exposure time of 18x300s. A preliminary analysis reveals no object brighter than I=21.7 in the XRT error circle. The calibration was carried out using the USNO B1.0 catalogue." //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12689 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: Swift-BAT refined analysis DATE: 11/12/15 23:04:57 GMT FROM: Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC 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), S. R. Oates (UCL-MSSL), D. M. Palmer (LANL), 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 T-239 to T+963 sec from recent telemetry downlinks, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 111215A (trigger #509717) (Oates, et al., GCN Circ. 12681). The BAT ground-calculated position is RA, Dec = 349.582, 32.440 deg, which is RA(J2000) = 23h 18m 19.6s Dec(J2000) = +32d 26' 24.2" with an uncertainty of 4.2 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment). The partial coding was 46%. The mask-weighted light curve shows the emission starting at ~T-110 sec, although we note that the burst location came into the BAT FoV around T-200 sec, so we can not make any statement about possible earlier emission. There are a few overlapping peaks at ~T+20 sec, ~T+170 sec, and T+300 sec, the the lightcurve slowly decreases back to baseline around T+1500 sec. T90 (15-350 keV) is 796 +- 250 sec (estimated error including systematics). The time-averaged spectrum from T-116.4 to T+960.1 sec is best fit by a simple power-law model. The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is 1.70 +- 0.18. The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 4.5 +- 0.5 x 10^-6 erg/cm2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T+216.35 sec in the 15-150 keV band is 0.5 +- 0.2 ph/cm2/sec. All the quoted errors are at the 90% confidence level. The duration of this burst is very long, and we note that this location is well off the Galactic Plane (lon=101,lat=-26). We can not rule out a non-GRB source for this event. The results of the batgrbproduct analysis are available at http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/notices_s/509717/BA/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12690 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: Enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 11/12/16 00:26:54 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester A.P. Beardmore, P.A. Evans, M.R. Goad and J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team. Using 2785 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 4 UVOT images for GRB 111215A, 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 = 349.55538, +32.49401 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 23h 18m 13.29s Dec (J2000): +32d 29' 38.4" 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: 12691 SUBJECT: Possible detection of pre-trigger X-ray emission from GRB 111215A by MAXI/GSC DATE: 11/12/16 09:38:44 GMT FROM: Motoko Suzuki at RIKEN N. Kawai, M. Morii (Tokyo Tech), H. Negoro (Nihon U.), M. Serino (RIKEN), K. Sugimori, R. Usui, T. Toizumi, Y. Aoki, S. Song (Tokyo Tech), S. Ueno, H. Tomida, M. Kohama, M. Ishikawa (JAXA), T. Mihara, M. Sugizaki, S. Nakahira, T. Yamamoto, T. Sootome, M. Matsuoka (RIKEN), A. Yoshida, K. Yamaoka (AGU), H. Tsunemi, M. Kimura, H. Kitayama (Osaka U.), M. Nakajima, F. Suwa, M. Asada, H. Sakakibara (Nihon U.), Y. Ueda, K. Hiroi, M. Shidatsu (Kyoto U.), Y. Tsuboi, T. Matsumura, K. Yamazaki (Chuo U.) M. Yamauchi, Y. Nishimura, T. Hanayama (Miyazaki U.) report on behalf of the MAXI team: MAXI/GSC observed the position of GRB 111215A (swift trigger=509717, Oates et al. GCN #12681) at 13:12 and 14:44 on December 5, 2011 (UT), 52 min before and 40 min after the trigger time. The source was marginally detected as follows: Time 2-4 keV 4-10 keV 13:12 4 +- 7 mCrab 52 +- 19 mCrab 14:44 16 +- 10 mCrab 41 +- 19 mCrab (uncertainties are 1-sigma statistical errors) If this detections are true it implies that the emission of GRB 111215A lasted for more than 1.5 hours. Together with the long trigger timescale (320 s) by Swift BAT, unusual for a GRB, we suggest that it may be a non-GRB X-ray transient, such as an X-ray binary, AGN, or extragalactic TDE. Multiwavelength follow-up observations are strongly encouraged. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12692 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 11/12/16 11:18:03 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester), P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), O.M. Littlejohns (U. Leicester), A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), G. Stratta (ASDC), J.A. Kennea (PSU), M.C. Stroh (PSU), D.N. Burrows (PSU) and S.R. Oates report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 7.1 ks of XRT data for GRB 111215A (Oates et al. GCN Circ. 12681), from 407 s to 59.3 ks after the BAT trigger. The data comprise 2.2 ks in Windowed Timing (WT) mode (the first 9 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 Beardmore et al. (GCN. Circ 12690). The late-time light curve (from T0+5.9 ks) can be modelled with an initial power-law decay with an index of alpha=2.13 (+0.13, -0.12), followed by a break at T+14.6 ks to an alpha of 1.21 (+0.15, -0.16). A spectrum formed from the WT mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.847 (+/-0.027). The best-fitting absorption column is 4.10 (+/-0.12) x 10^21 cm^-2, in excess of the Galactic value of 5.6 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Kalberla et al. 2005). The PC mode spectrum has a photon index of 2.14 (+/-0.12) and a best-fitting absorption column of 3.2 (+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 3.9 x 10^-11 (6.8 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 3.2 (+0.5, -0.4) x 10^21 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 5.6 x 10^20 cm^-2 Excess significance: 10.2 sigma Photon index: 2.14 (+/-0.12) The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00509717. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12693 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits DATE: 11/12/16 11:29:50 GMT FROM: Samantha Oates at MSSL S. R. Oates (MSSL-UCL) reports on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 111215A 426 s after the BAT trigger (Oates et al., GCN Circ. 12681). No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position (Beardmore et al., GCN Circ. 12690) is detected in the initial UVOT exposures. 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 426 576 147 >21.7 white 426 19036 645 >22.0 v 732 13257 608 >20.1 b 657 18972 1198 >21.6 u 632 6983 313 >20.7 w1 608 22616 593 >20.6 m2 583 6572 313 >20.7 w2 708 12928 1260 >21.3 The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.06 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12694 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: MITSuME Okayama Optical upper limits DATE: 11/12/16 12:27:18 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 111215A (Oates et al., GCNC 12681) 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 2011-12-15 14:10:37 UT (~6.5 min after the burst). We did not find any new point source within the enhanced XRT circle (Beardmore et al., GCNC 12690) in all the three bands. Photometric results and are listed below. We used GSC2.3 catalog for flux calibration. T0+[day] MID-UT T-EXP[sec] g' Rc Ic ------------------------------------------------------ 0.03242 14:50:49 3420.0 >18.6 >19.0 >18.7 -------------------------------------------------------- T0+ : Elapsed time after the burst [day] T-EXP: Total Exposure time [sec] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12695 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: TNG K-band observations DATE: 11/12/16 15:08:56 GMT FROM: Stefano Covino at Brera Astronomical Observatory P. D'Avanzo, A. Melandri, S. Covino (INAF/OABr), L. A. Antonelli, V. D'Elia (INAF/OAR and ASDC/ASI), E. Palazzi (INAF/IASF Bo), D. Fugazza (INAF/OABr), G. Tagliaferri (INAF/OABr), and S. D. Vergani (INAF/OABr), report on behalf of the CIBO collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 111215A (Oates et al., GCN 12681) with the TNG telescope located in the Canary Islands. We secured 30 min Ks-band imaging with the NICS instrument, with a mean time Dec 15.845 UT (6.30 hr after the GRB trigger). Within the UVOT-enhanced XRT error circle (Beardmore et al., GCN 12690), we detect no new source down to a limiting magnitude K > 19 (Vega, calibrated against the 2MASS catalog). Taking the X-ray flux at the time of the TNG observation from the UK X-ray light curve repository (http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_curves/00509717/), we compute a broad-band optical-to-X-ray spectral index beta_OX < 0.25, which classifies GRB 111215A as dark according to the widely adopted definition of Jakobsson et al. (2004, ApJ, 617, 21). The non detection in the K band, coupled with the significant absorption in the X-ray spectrum (Beardmore et al., GCN 12692), suggests a highly extinguished, rather than a high redshift, event. Deep observations to look for a host galaxy are encouraged. We acknowledge excellent support from the observing staff at the TNG, especially Marco Pedani and Giovanni Mainella. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12696 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: WHT, LT and NOT imaging DATE: 11/12/16 17:24:54 GMT FROM: Nial Tanvir at U.Leicester N. R. Tanvir, K. Wiersema (U. Leicester), A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), T. Kruehler, J. Fynbo (DARK), A. J. Levan (U. Warwick), C. G. Mundell, R. J. Smith (LJMU), C. Guidorzi (U. Ferrara), D. Xu (WIS) and I. Skillen (ING) report: We imaged the field of GRB111215A (Oates et al. GCN12681) using the WHT, the LT and the NOT, all on La Palma, on the night of 2011-Dec-15 (UT). Seeing conditions were rather poor (FWHM~2"), and no counterpart was located to the following 3-sigma limits at the given mid-times post-burst: WHT/LIRIS (calibrated against 2MASS) K>19.3 at 4hr 55m J>19.4 at 5hr 15m LT/RATCam (calibrated against SDSS) z'>21.7 at 6hr 50m NOT/StanCam (calibrated against SDSS) z'>22.5 at 6hr 50m The K-band limit is consistent with that provided by D'Avanzo et al. (GCN12695) from the TNG, and confirms this source to be dark even in the infrared. We are grateful to Ilia Ilyin for assistance in obtaining the NOT observations. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12697 SUBJECT: GRB111215A: Pre-Outburst Palomar 48 inch Imaging DATE: 11/12/16 20:26:36 GMT FROM: S. Bradley Cenko at Caltech S. B. Cenko (UC Berkeley), P. E. Nugent (LBNL / UC Berkeley), and S. R. Kulkarni (Caltech) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We have examined pre-outburst imaging of the location of GRB111215A (Oates et al., GCN12681) obtained over the last 7 years with the Palomar 48 inch Oschin Schmidt telescope. As part of the Palomar Transient Factory, we have imaged the location of GRB111215A regularly (every ~ 3-4 nights) over the time period from June - October 2011. Coadding all images of this location, no sources are detected within the XRT error circle (Beardmore et al., GCN12690) to a limiting magnitude of r' > 22.8 mag (calibrated with respect to several nearby field stars from SDSS). Furthermore, no previous outbursts are detected in any individual frames over this period, to a typical limiting magnitude of r' > 20.5 mag. In addition, we co-added 117 archival images from the DeepSky* project at Palomar Observatory obtained over the time period from 2004-2008 as part of the Palomar-Quest Consortium. No source is detected at the XRT position to a limiting magnitude of i' > 22.6 mag. * http://supernova.lbl.gov/~nugent/deepsky.html //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12703 SUBJECT: GRB111215A: optical upper limit DATE: 11/12/17 20:17:28 GMT FROM: Alexei Pozanenko at IKI, Moscow V. Rumyantsev, N. Pit' (CrAO), A. Volnova (SAI MSU), M. Andreev (Terskol Branch of INASAN), N. Parakhin, (IC AMER, NASU), A. Pozanenko (IKI) report on behalf of larger GRB follow-up collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 111215A (Oates et al. GCN 12681) with AZT-11 telescope of CrAO observatory starting on Dec.15 (UT) 15:18:22 under mean seeing (FWHM) of 3.1 arsces and with Zeiss-600 telescope of Mt.Terskol observatory starting on Dec.15 (UT) 21:03:45 under mean seeing (FWHM) of 1.8 arsces . We took several frames in R-band. Within enhanced Swift-XRT position (Beardmore et al. GCN 12690) we do not detected any optical source. A photometry is based on the nearby USNO-B1.0 stars (R2): T_start UT T0+ Filter, Exposure, OT, uplim (3 sigma) (mid, d) (s) 15:18:22 0.0738 R 21x180 n/d 21.0 21:03:45 0.3113 R 51x60 n/d 19.3 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12710 SUBJECT: GRB111215A: CARMA Detection DATE: 11/12/20 19:52:45 GMT FROM: Assaf Horesh at Caltech Authors: A. Horesh (Caltech), J. Carpenter (Caltech), A. Corsi (Caltech), A. Zauderer (CfA), S. R. Kulkarni (Caltech), E. Berger (CfA), D. A. Frail (NRAO), S. B. Cenko (UC Berkeley), D. Perley (Caltech) On 2011 December 17.04 UT (1.46 days after burst) we observed GRB111215A (Oates et al., GCN12681) with CARMA at 93 GHz. We detected the source at RA=23:18:13.32, Dec=+32:29:39.09 (J2000). This position is consistent with the Swift-XRT position. We continue to monitor the source with CARMA. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12711 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: EVLA observations DATE: 11/12/20 19:59:32 GMT FROM: Ashley Zauderer at CfA A. Zauderer and E. Berger (Harvard) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: "We observed the position of GRB 111215A (GCN 12681) with the EVLA at 21.8 GHz beginning on 2011 Dec 18.93 UT (3.35 days after the burst). We report a radio counterpart consistent with the Swift-XRT position (GCN 12690, http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_positions) and the reported CARMA detection by Horesh et al. (GCN 12710). The position of the detected EVLA radio source is (J2000): RA = 23:18:13.310 +/- 0.001 Dec = +32:29:39.18 +/- 0.01 Follow-up observations are ongoing." //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12734 SUBJECT: GRB 111215A: Keck/LRIS Imaging DATE: 11/12/27 06:24:47 GMT FROM: S. Bradley Cenko at Caltech S. B. Cenko, J. S. Bloom, J. M. Silverman, A. N. Morgan (UC Berkeley), D. A. Perley (Caltech), A. Cucchiara, J. X. Prochaska (UCSC / UCO Lick), A. V. Filippenko (UC Berkeley), and P. E. Nugent (LBNL / UC Berkeley) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We have imaged the field of GRB111215A (Oates et al., GCN 12681) with the Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS) mounted on the 10 m Keck I telescope beginning at 5:12 UT on 2012 Dec 26 (~ 10.6 days after the Swift BAT trigger). Near the position of the radio and mm counterpart (Horesh et al., GCN 12710; Zauderer et al., GCN 12711), we detect a faint source with coordinates: RA: 23:18:13.29 Dec: +32:29:38.8 (J2000.0) Astrometric calibration was performed with respect to several 2MASS point sources in the field of view, and we estimate an uncertainty of ~ 200 mas in each coordinate. We measure a magnitude for this object of R ~ 25.2 (referenced to nearby point sources from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey). Using the sky density of objects of this brightness (Hogg et al., 1997, MNRAS, 288, 404), we estimate the probability of chance alignment (e.g., Bloom et al., 2002, AJ, 123, 1111) to be relatively small (<~ 1%). We therefore consider it likely that this object is associated with GRB111215A. A second, fainter source is visible ~ 1.5" NE of the radio position. The relation of this source to GRB111215A is not clear at the moment, as the probability of chance coincidence at this radius and brightness is not negligible.