//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16546 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 14/07/09 01:28:06 GMT FROM: David Palmer at LANL L. M. Z. Hagen (PSU), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), S. B. Cenko (GSFC), M. M. Chester (PSU), J. R. Cummings (NASA/UMBC), N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC), J. A. Kennea (PSU), H. A. Krimm (CRESST/GSFC/USRA), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (AGU), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU) and M. H. Siegel (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 01:13:41 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 140709A (trigger=603810). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 304.639, +51.223 which is RA(J2000) = 20h 18m 33s Dec(J2000) = +51d 13' 23" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve shows several peaks with a total duration of about 80 sec. The peak count rate was ~2800 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 01:15:04.0 UT, 82.9 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a bright, uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 304.66332, 51.22316 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 20h 18m 39.20s Dec(J2000) = +51d 13' 23.4" with an uncertainty of 3.7 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 54 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. No spectrum from the promptly downlinked event data is yet available to determine the column density. The initial flux in the 2.5 s image was 1.01e-08 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10 keV). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 92 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. Results from the list of sources generated on-board are not available at this time. No correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.40. Burst Advocate for this burst is L. M. Z. Hagen (lea.zernow.hagen AT gmail.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.) //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16547 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A: RATIR Optical and NIR Observations DATE: 14/07/09 06:49:03 GMT FROM: Nat Butler at Az State U Nat Butler (ASU), Alan M. Watson (UNAM), Alexander Kutyrev (GSFC), William H. Lee (UNAM), Michael G. Richer (UNAM), Chris Klein (UCB), Ori Fox (UCB), J. Xavier Prochaska (UCSC), Josh Bloom (UCB), Antonino Cucchiara (ORAU/GSFC), 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), and Harvey Moseley (GSFC) report: We observed the field of GRB 140709A (Hagen, et al., GCN 16546) 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 2014/07 9.17 to 2014/07 9.25 UTC (2.76 to 4.78 hours after the BAT trigger), obtaining a total of 1.42 hours exposure in the r and i bands and 0.60 hours exposure in the Z, Y, J, and H bands. We detect no sources within the Swift-XRT error circle. In comparison with 2MASS, we obtain the following upper limits (3-sigma): r > 23.39 i > 23.20 Z > 22.17 Y > 21.61 J > 21.55 H > 21.13 These magnitudes are in the AB system and are not corrected for Galactic extinction in the direction of the GRB. We note that a faint, red source is detected just outside the XRT error region at a position: RA, DEC = 304.661780, 51.224069 +/- 0.5" (J2000), with r > 23.08 i = 22.15 +/- 0.13 Z = 21.43 +/- 0.18 Y > 21.25 J = 20.90 +/- 0.20 H = 20.76 +/- 0.25 We cannot confirm fading in this source. We thank the staff of the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional in San Pedro Mártir. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16548 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A - UVOT-enhanced XRT position DATE: 14/07/09 08:24:03 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 1569 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 4 UVOT images for GRB 140709A, 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 = 304.66235, +51.22497 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 20h 18m 38.96s Dec (J2000): +51d 13' 29.9" with an uncertainty of 1.6 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: 16549 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits DATE: 14/07/09 11:53:44 GMT FROM: Paul Kuin at MSSL N. P. M. Kuin (UCL-MSSL) and L. M. Z. Hagen (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 140709A 93 s after the BAT trigger (Hagen et al., GCN Circ. 16546). No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position (Evans et al. GCN Circ. 16548) 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 93 242 147 >21.0 white 93 2199 186 >21.3 v 2055 5878 216 >19.8 b 1979 12414 848 >21.8 u 305 6434 330 >20.5 w1 2104 6288 216 >20.2 m2 5883 6083 197 >19.9 w2 2030 2050 19 >19.7 The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.40 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16550 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 14/07/09 15:28:03 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester V. D'Elia (ASDC), M. de Pasquale (INAF-IASFPA), V. Mangano (PSU), M.C. Stroh (PSU), D.N. Burrows (PSU), P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), B.P. Gompertz (U. Leicester), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester), A. Maselli (INAF-IASFPA) and L.M.Z. Hagen report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 7.1 ks of XRT data for GRB 140709A (Hagen et al. GCN Circ. 16546), from 75 s to 30.7 ks after the BAT trigger. The data comprise 195 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode (the first 6 s were taken while Swift was slewing) with the remainder in Photon Counting (PC) mode. The late-time light curve (from T0+5.7 ks) can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay index of alpha=0.89 (+0.08, -0.09). A spectrum formed from the WT mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 2.48 (+/-0.07). The best-fitting absorption column is 9.9 (+/-0.5) x 10^21 cm^-2, in excess of the Galactic value of 4.1 x 10^21 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The PC mode spectrum has a photon index of 1.88 (+/-0.14) and a best-fitting absorption column of 8.0 (+1.2, -1.1) x 10^21 cm^-2. The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 4.9 x 10^-11 (8.0 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 8.0 (+1.2, -1.1) x 10^21 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 4.1 x 10^21 cm^-2 Excess significance: 5.8 sigma Photon index: 1.88 (+/-0.14) If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of 0.89, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 0.038 count s^-1, corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 1.9 x 10^-12 (3.1 x 10^-12) erg cm^-2 s^-1. The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00603810. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16553 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A, Swift-BAT refined analysis DATE: 14/07/09 16:29:31 GMT FROM: Hans Krimm at NASA-GSFC C. B. Markwardt (GSFC), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), J. R. Cummings (GSFC/UMBC), N. Gehrels (GSFC), L. M. Z. Hagen (PSU), H. A. Krimm (GSFC/USRA), A. Y. Lien (NASA/UMBC), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (AGU), 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+626 sec from the recent telemetry downlink, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 140709A (trigger #603810) (Hagen, et al., GCN Circ. 16546). The BAT ground-calculated position is RA, Dec = 304.666, 51.222 deg which is RA(J2000) = 20h 18m 39.9s Dec(J2000) = +51d 13' 17.8" with an uncertainty of 1.0 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment). The partial coding was 61%. The mask-weighted light curve shows a complex structure. Burst activity begins at T-50 sec, with a gradual rise to a peak at T+0 sec, punctuated by several subsidiary peaks. Then there is a return to near background by T+8 sec, followed by a second main peak at T+15 sec. There are additional smaller and softer peaks centered at T+55 and T+75 sec. T90 (15-350 keV) is 98.6 +- 7.7 sec (estimated error including systematics). The time-averaged spectrum from T-46.1 to T+93.4 sec is best fit by a power law with an exponential cutoff. This fit gives a photon index 1.23 +- 0.27, and Epeak of 78.0 +- 20.4 keV (chi squared 57.80 for 56 d.o.f.). For this model the total fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 5.2 +- 0.2 x 10^-6 erg/cm2 and the 1-sec peak flux measured from T+15.48 sec in the 15-150 keV band is 3.1 +- 0.3 ph/cm2/sec. A fit to a simple power law gives a photon index of 1.74 +- 0.06 (chi squared 69.09 for 57 d.o.f.). 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/603810/BA/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16554 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A: BOOTES-2 and OSN optical observations DATE: 14/07/09 16:51:28 GMT FROM: Juan Carlos Tello at IAA-CSIC A.J. Castro-Tirado (IAA-CSIC, ISA-UMA), J. Gorosabel (IAA-CSIC, UPV-EHU), J. C. Tello, R. Cunniffe, A. Gonzalez-Rodriguez, A. Sota, M. Jelinek, S. Jeong, O. Lara-Gil, S. R. Oates, R. Sanchez-Ramirez (IAA-CSIC, Granada), P. Kubanek (IP-ASCR, Prague) and S. Pandey (ARIES) report: Following the detection of GRB 140709A by Swift (Hagen et al., GCNC 16546), the 0.6m TELMA robotic telescope at the BOOTES-2 astronomical station Malaga (Spain), responded to the GRB location starting at 01:14:41 UT (i.e. 60s postburst, in the clear filter, 5s integrations), with an upper limit of R > 16.5. Further optical observations were carried out at the 1.5m OSN telescope starting on July 9.06-9.12 UT (i.e. 0.37--1.72 hours post GRB). A source coincident with the enhanced XRT position is found (Evans et al. GCN 16548) at coordinates RA(J2000) = 20:18:38.95, DEC(J2000) = 51:13:29.6 (+/-0.5") when the 78x60s frames are co-added. Using USNO-B1.0 as reference, we measure a Vega magnitude of I = 20.8 (uncorrected for Galactic reddening), which is the potential optical afterglow. At the present stage we do not know is the source is fading or not. We also detect the object reported by RATIR (Butler et al. GCN 16547), which is not consistent with the position of our candidate. Further observations are planned. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16555 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A: Fermi GBM detection DATE: 14/07/09 17:01:51 GMT FROM: Eric Burns at U of Alabama E. Burns (UAH) reports on behalf of the Fermi GBM Team: "At 01:13:41.38 UT on 09 July 2014, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor triggered and located GRB 140709A (trigger 426561224 / 140709051). which was also detected by the Swift/BAT (L. Hagen et al., GCN 16546) The GBM on-ground location is consistent with the Swift position. The angle from the Fermi LAT boresight is 111 degrees. The GBM light curve consists of two main peaks with a duration (T90) of about 70s (50-300 keV). The time-averaged spectrum from T0-25 s to T0+45 s is best fit by a power law function with an exponential high-energy cutoff. The power law index is -1.10 +/- 0.07 and the cutoff energy, parameterized as Epeak, is 126 +/- 9 keV The event fluence (10-1000 keV) in this time interval is (8.8 +/- 0.4)E-06 erg/cm^2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured starting from T0+15.0 s in the 10-1000 keV band is 5.2 +/- 0.3 ph/s/cm^2. The spectral analysis results presented above are preliminary; final results will be published in the GBM GRB Catalog." //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16559 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A : Virtual Telescope optical observations DATE: 14/07/09 23:35:27 GMT FROM: Gianluca Masi at Bellatrix Astronomical Obs G. Masi, the Virtual Telescope Project - Italy, reports: I started observations of GRB 140709A (Hagen et al. GCN 16546) with the 17" robotic unit part of the Virtual Telescope (Ceccano, Italy) at 02:04:00 UT, 3000 seconds after the burst. An optical source is visible where described by Castro-Tirado et al. (GCN 16554) in a image coming from the sum of three, 180-seconds exposures, unfiltered. The position of the source is RA: 20h18m38.94s +51d13'29.9" (J2000.0, mean residuals of 0.2") and the magnitude was estimated to be 21.0, assuming R mags for the reference stars from UCAC-4. The message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16564 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A: 10.4m GTC optical decay DATE: 14/07/10 11:39:14 GMT FROM: Juan Carlos Tello at IAA-CSIC A.J. Castro-Tirado (IAA-CSIC, ISA-UMA), J. Gorosabel (IAA-CSIC, UPV-EHU), J. C. Tello, R. Cunniffe, A. Gonzalez-Rodriguez, A. Sota, M. Jelinek, S. Jeong, O. Lara-Gil, S. R. Oates, R. Sanchez-Ramirez (IAA-CSIC, Granada), P. Kubanek (IP-ASCR, Prague), S. Pandey (ARIES), and A. Garcia (GTC,IAC) report: The field of GRB 140709A (Hagen et al. GCNC 16546) was observed in i'-band with the 10.4m GTC telescope in two epochs centered on July 9.12955 and 10.10966 UT (1.9 and 25.4 hours post burst). Comparison between those two epochs reveals that the optical candidate reported by Castro-Tirado et al. (GCNC 16554) has faded by ~0.7 mags (from i'~21.3 to 22.0, both in AB), implying a shallow decay index of ~0.2. A similar decay is measured in z'-band. [GCN OPS NOTE(12jul14): Per author's request, AG was added to the author list.] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16575 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A: Continued RATIR Optical and NIR Observations DATE: 14/07/10 23:21:48 GMT FROM: Nat Butler at Az State U Nat Butler (ASU), Alan M. Watson (UNAM), Alexander Kutyrev (GSFC), William H. Lee (UNAM), Michael G. Richer (UNAM), Chris Klein (UCB), Ori Fox (UCB), J. Xavier Prochaska (UCSC), Josh Bloom (UCB), Antonino Cucchiara (ORAU/GSFC), 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), and Harvey Moseley (GSFC) report: We observed the field of GRB 140709A (Hagen, et al., GCN 16546) 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 from 2014/07 9.17 to 2014/07 9.46 UTC (2.76 to 9.93 hours after the BAT trigger), obtaining a total of 4.98 hours exposure in the r and i bands and 2.09 hours exposure in the Z, Y, J, and H bands and again from 2014/07 10.17 to 2014/07 10.42 UTC (26.77 to 32.87 hours after the BAT trigger), obtaining a total of 4.27 hours exposure in the r and i bands and 1.79 hours exposure in the Z, Y, J, and H bands. We detect the afterglow candidate reported by Castro-Tirado et al. (GCN 16554; also Masi, et al., GCN 16559; Castro-Tirado, et al., GCN 16564) in both epochs, adding a deeper integration for our first epoch as compared to our initial report (Butler, et al., GCN 16547). Relative to 2MASS and using the RATIR zero-points, we find: 7/09 7/10 r 24.28 +/- 0.45 23.85 +/- 0.31 i 23.05 +/- 0.16 23.28 +/- 0.20 Z >22.92 >22.68 Y >22.40 >22.33 J >22.30 >22.27 H >21.94 >21.85 These magnitudes are in the AB system and are not corrected for Galactic extinction in the direction of the GRB. Upper limits are 3-sigma. We cannot reliably confirm fading in this source. We note that another RATIR source outside of the Swift XRT error region (see, GCN 16547) does not appear to fade and is not likely to be the afterglow to GRB 140709A. We thank the staff of the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional in San Pedro Mártir. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16595 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A: Possible AMI 15 GHz detection DATE: 14/07/16 17:37:37 GMT FROM: Gemma Anderson at U of Oxford G. E. Anderson, R. P. Fender, T. D. Staley (University of Oxford), A. J. van der Horst (University of Amsterdam), A. Rowlinson (CASS) and C. Rumsey (MRAO) We observed the position of GRB 140709A (GCN 16546) at 15 GHz with the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI-LA) starting on 2014 July 11.93 to 12.10 UT, corresponding to 2.88 days post-burst. We have detected a possible radio counterpart consistent with the UVOT-enhanced XRT position (GCN 16548) with a preliminary flux of 0.35 +/- 0.06 mJy. However, this source is blended with the nearby NVSS source 201841+511349 lying at an angular distance of 27.5 arcseconds. The angular resolution of AMI is ~30 arcseconds. The flux was calculated by first subtracting the contribution from the NVSS source. Earlier AMI observations an 2014 July 9.05 to 9.14 UT and July 10.04 to 10.2, corresponding to <5 minutes and 1 day post-burst, did not detect a radio source at the position of the GRB with 3 sigma upper limits of 0.30 and 0.21 mJy, respectively. Further AMI monitoring is planned. We thank the AMI staff for scheduling these observations. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16650 SUBJECT: GRB 140709A, the review of the sky area in plate archives DATE: 14/08/01 12:43:56 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 140709A (P.A. Evans et al. GCN Circ.16548) 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 19840822/200650 GUA040C000445A 12.5 16.10 1350-12048943 19840825/201235 GUA040C000458A 16.0 16.95 1350-12054971 19840905/193326 GUA040C000485A 22.5 16.20 1350-12052525 19850711/224521 GUA040C000678A 16.0 16.75 1350-12052468 19850711/230927 GUA040C000679A 16.0 16.95 1350-12054971 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). LimM - Limited V mag, derived in the 12 minutes area around the location given in P.A. Evans et al. GCN Circ.16548: RA(J2000)= 20h 18m 38.96s, Dec(J2000)= +51d 13' 29.9" Star USNOA2 - Comparison star. The preview images of 5 areas together with the 12x12 min.of arc area from SkyMap can be found in http://gua.db.ukr-vo.org/img/grb/140709A/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