//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16702 SUBJECT: GRB 140818A: MAXI/GSC detection DATE: 14/08/18 06:29:01 GMT FROM: H. Negoro at Nihon U. F. Honda, K. Suzuki, H. Negoro (Nihon U.), M. Serino (RIKEN), S. Nakahira, S. Ueno, H. Tomida, M. Kimura, M. Ishikawa, Y. E. Nakagawa (JAXA), T. Mihara, M. Sugizaki, M.Morii, J. Sugimoto, T. Takagi, A. Yoshikawa, M. Matsuoka (RIKEN), N. Kawai, T. Yoshii, Y. Tachibana (Tokyo Tech), A. Yoshida, T. Sakamoto, Y. Kawakubo, H. Ohtsuki (AGU), H. Tsunemi, D. Uchida (Osaka U.), Nakajima, K. Fukushima, T. Onodera, T. Namba, M. Fujita (Nihon U.), Y. Ueda, M. Shidatsu, T. Kawamuro, T. Hori (Kyoto U.), Y. Tsuboi, A. Kawagoe (Chuo U.), M. Yamauchi, Y. Morooka (Miyazaki U.), K. Yamaoka (Nagoya U.), report on behalf of the MAXI team: The MAXI/GSC nova alert system triggered a bright uncatalogued X-ray transient source at 2014-08-18T08:31:56 UT. Assuming that the source flux was constant over the transit, we obtain the source position at (R.A., Dec) = (199.554 deg, 6.888 deg) = (13 18 12, +06 53 15) (J2000) with a statistical 90% C.L. statistical error of 0.07 deg and an additional systematic uncertainty of 0.1 deg (90% containment radius). The X-ray flux averaged over the scan was 1125 +- 62 mCrab mCrab (4-10keV, 1 sigma error). A energy spectrum fit with the absorbed (Nh=2.5e20) power-law model gives a photon index of 1.03 (+0.13/-0.12). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16703 SUBJECT: GRB 140818A Tiled Swift observations DATE: 14/08/18 08:38:26 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester P. A. Evans (U. Leicester) reports on behalf of the Swift team: Swift has initiated a series of observations, tiled on the sky, of the MAXI GRB 140818A. Automated analysis of the XRT data will be presented online at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/TILED_GRB00029 Any uncatalogued X-ray sources detected in this analysis will be reported on this website and via GCN COUNTERPART notices. The probability of finding serendipitous sources, unrelated to the MAXI event is high: any X-ray source considered to be a probable afterglow candidate will be reported via a GCN Circular after manual consideration. Details of the XRT automated analysis methods are detailed in Evans et al. (2007, A&A, 469, 379; and 2009, MNRAS, 397, 1177). This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16705 SUBJECT: GRB 140818A: Correction to GCN 16702 DATE: 14/08/18 14:42:40 GMT FROM: H. Negoro at Nihon U. H. Negoro, F. Honda (Nihon U.) report on behalf of the MAXI team: The trigger time of MAXI-GSC detection of GRB 140818A reported in GCN 16702 is incorrect. The correct trigger time is "2014-08-18T05:31:28 UT", and about 79 sec after the Fermi-GBM detection (Triger Number 430032612). The time and the location of Fermi-GBM and MAXI-GSC GRBs suggest that that the bursts are the same origin. We apologize for the mistake. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16706 SUBJECT: GRB 140818A: Swift-XRT and UVOT potential afterglow detection DATE: 14/08/18 15:05:41 GMT FROM: Craig Swenson at PSU/Swift Swenson, C.A. (PSU) and Sbarufatti, B. (INAF-OAB/PSU) report on behalf of the Swift team Swift-XRT has observed the error circle of the MAXI GRB 140818A in a series of observations tiled on the sky. The total exposure time is 2.3 ks spread over 4 fields; the maximum exposure within the sky observed was 1.0 ks. The observations started 10.5 ks after the MAXI trigger (Honda et al., GCN Circ. 16702). Within these data we detect a bright, uncatalogued X-ray source at RA, Dec= 199.56275, 6.92254 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000.0) = 13h 18m 15.06s Dec (J2000.0) = +06d 55' 21.1" with an uncertainty of 2.1 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence). This is an enhanced position, determined by using UVOT field stars to determine the astrometry.The exposure at this location was 746 s. This previously uncatalogued source is significantly brighter than the RASS limit, and we thus consider it the likely GRB afterglow. The results of the automatic processing for this source are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/TILED_GRB00029/index_1.php The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 140818A 10467 s after the MAXI trigger. A source consistent with the XRT position is detected in the initial UVOT exposures. The preliminary UVOT position is: RA (J2000) = 13:18:15.08 = 199.56285 (deg.) Dec (J2000) = +06:55:22.6 = 6.92295 (deg.) with an estimated uncertainty of 0.50 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 u 10467 11094 617 19.21 ± 0.12 The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.04 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). This circular is an official product of the Swift team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16708 SUBJECT: GRB 140818A - Fermi GBM Detection DATE: 14/08/18 18:08:23 GMT FROM: Oliver Roberts at UCD/Fermi Oliver Roberts (UCD) reports on behalf of the Fermi GBM Team: "At 05:30:09.12 UT on the 18th of August 2014, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor triggered and located GRB 140818A (trigger 430032612 / 140818229), which was also detected by MAXI/GSC (H. Negoro et al. GCN 16702 and GCN 16705). A possible afterglow has also been reported by Swift-XRT and UVOT (C. Swenson et al. GCN 16706) The GBM on-ground location is consistent with the MAXI/GSC and Swift positions. The angle from the Fermi LAT boresight is 35 degrees. The GBM light curve consists of two peaks, with the second peak at T~50s being brighter than the first. The duration (T90) of the burst is about 109 s (50-300 keV). The time-averaged spectrum from T0+25s to T0+135 s is adequately fit by a BAND function. The power law index alpha is -0.69 +/- 0.04 . The power law index beta is -2.39 +/- 0.10 . The cutoff energy, parameterised as Epeak, is 181 +/- 8 keV. The event fluence (10-1000 keV) in this time interval is (2.95 +/- 0.06)E-05 erg/cm^2. The 1.024-sec peak photon flux was measured starting from T0+99.5 s in the 10-1000 keV band is 8.6 +/- 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: 16709 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 14/08/18 18:58:42 GMT FROM: David Burrows at PSU/Swift A. Vargas (PSU), D. N. Burrows (PSU), S. B. Cenko (GSFC), N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC), C. Gronwall (PSU), L. M. Z. Hagen (PSU), J. A. Kennea (PSU), A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), J. L. Racusin (NASA/GSFC), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU) and C. A. Swenson (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 18:44:16 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 140818B (trigger=609885). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 271.148, -1.361 which is RA(J2000) = 18h 04m 35s Dec(J2000) = -01d 21' 40" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a multi-peaked structure with a duration of about 20 sec. The peak count rate was ~1200 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~1 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 18:46:05.6 UT, 109.2 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find an uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 271.13656, -1.38660 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 18h 04m 32.77s Dec(J2000) = -01d 23' 11.8" with an uncertainty of 3.9 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 100 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 3.53 x 10^21 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 113 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 none of the XRT error circle. The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated on-board covers 100% of the BAT error circle. Because of the density of catalogued stars, further analysis is required to report an upper limit for any afterglow in the region. No correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.71. Burst Advocate for this burst is A. Vargas (avargas AT swift.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: 16711 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B: OSN I-band afterglow candidate DATE: 14/08/18 22:50:24 GMT FROM: Alberto Castro-Tirado at Inst.de Astro. de Andalucia F.J. Aceituno (OSN/IAA-CSIC), J. Gorosabel (IAA-CSIC/UPV-EHU) and A.J. Castro-Tirado (IAA-CSIC/UMA), report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 140818B (Vargas et al., GCN 16709) with the 1.5m OSN telescope at Observatorio de Sierra Nevada (Spain). Several 300s images were acquired in the I- and R-band starting on Aug 18, 20:15 UT (i.e. 1.5 hours post burst). An optical source at the edge of the Swift/XRT error box is detected at coordinates (J2000) RA: 18 04 32.47, Dec: -01 23 09.8 (+/- 1"), which is not present in the corresponding DSS-2 image. A preliminary photometry against the USNO B1.0 catalog yields an I-band magnitude of 19.7 (Vega). At the moment we cannot determine if the source if fading in brightness. Further observations are encouraged. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16712 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B: Enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 14/08/19 00:18:06 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 990 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 2 UVOT images for GRB 140818B, 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 = 271.13556, -1.38629 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 18h 04m 32.53s Dec (J2000): -01d 23' 10.6" with an uncertainty of 1.9 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: 16713 SUBJECT: GRB140818B : GROND afterglow candidate DATE: 14/08/19 02:45:09 GMT FROM: Karla Varela at MPE F. Knust, K. Varela, and J. Greiner (all MPE Garching) report on behalf of the GROND team: We observed the field of GRB 140818B (Swift-60985; Vargas et al., GCN 16709) simultaneously in g'r'i'z'JHK with GROND (Greiner et al. 2008,PASP 120, 405) mounted at the 2.2m MPG telescope at ESO La Silla Observatory (Chile). Observations started at 23:43 UT on 2014-08-18, 5 hours after the GRB trigger. They were performed at an average seeing of 1.23" and at an average airmass of 1.2. Based on images with exposure times of 340s in g’r'i'z’ and 370s in JHKs, we detect a source inside the 1.9” error circle reported by Beardmore et al. (GCN 16712) at RA (J2000): 18h 04m 32.47s Dec (J2000): -01d 23’ 09.7" with an uncertainty of 0.5” and magnitudes g’ > 24.1 mag, r' = 22.1 +/- 0.1 mag, i' = 21.8 +/- 0.1 mag, z' = 21.4 +/- 0.1 mag. J > 20.9 mag, H > 20.7 mag, and K > 19.2 mag. The afterglow candidate reported by Aceituno et al. (GCN #16711) is also detected inside the 3.9” XRT error circle (GCN 16711) but not inside the 1.9” XRT error circle (GCN 16712) with magnitudes : r' = 22.4 +/- 0.1 mag, i' = 21.6 +/- 0.1 mag, z' = 20.9 +/- 0.1 mag. The given magnitudes are derived based on calibrating the images against the GROND zeropoints and 2MASS field stars are not corrected for the Galactic foreground extinction corresponding to a reddening of E_(B-V) = 0.73 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16714 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B: Fermi GBM detection DATE: 14/08/19 03:03:05 GMT FROM: Eric Burns at U of Alabama Eric Burns (UAH) reports on behalf of the Fermi GBM Team: "At 18:44:15.70 UT on 18 August 2014, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor triggered and located GRB 140818B (trigger 430080258 / 140818781). which was also detected by the Swift/BAT (Burrows et al. 2014, GCN 16709). The GBM on-ground location is consistent with the Swift position. The angle from the Fermi LAT boresight is 32 degrees. The GBM light curve consists of one main peak followed by multiple smaller peaks with a duration (T90) of about 23.6 s (50-300 keV). The time-averaged spectrum from T0-6.14 s to T0+20.5 s is best fit by a simple power law function with index -1.7 +/- 0.1. The event fluence (10-1000 keV) in this time interval is (1.6 +/- 0.2)E-06 erg/cm^2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured starting from T0+0.26 s in the 10-1000 keV band is 1.7 +/- 0.2 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: 16716 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 14/08/19 12:58:04 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester B.P. Gompertz (U. Leicester), M. de Pasquale (INAF-IASFPA), A. Maselli (INAF-IASFPA), A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), J.A. Kennea (PSU), V. Mangano (PSU), M.C. Stroh (PSU), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester), K.L. Page (U. Leicester) and A. Vargas report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 10 ks of XRT data for GRB 140818B (Vargas et al. GCN Circ. 16709), from 94 s to 52.9 ks after the BAT trigger. The data comprise 7 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode (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. 16712). The light curve can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay index of alpha=0.64 (+/-0.05). A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 2.3 (+/-0.3). The best-fitting absorption column is 5.6 (+2.0, -1.6) x 10^21 cm^-2, in excess of the Galactic value of 3.5 x 10^21 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 3.6 x 10^-11 (7.4 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 5.6 (+2.0, -1.6) x 10^21 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 3.5 x 10^21 cm^-2 Excess significance: 2.1 sigma Photon index: 2.3 (+/-0.3) If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of 0.64, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 6.2 x 10^-3 count s^-1, corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 2.2 x 10^-13 (4.6 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/00609885. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16717 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits DATE: 14/08/19 13:10:44 GMT FROM: Lea Hagen at PSU L. M. Z. Hagen (PSU) and A. Vargas (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 140818B 114 s after the BAT trigger (Vargas et al., GCN Circ. 16709). No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position (Beardmore et al. GCN Circ. 16712), the OSN candidate (Aceituno et al. GCN Circ 16711), or the GROND candidate (Knust et al. GCN Circ 16713) 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 early exposures are: Filter T_start(s) T_stop(s) Exp(s) Mag white 113 5136 530 >21.32 v 654 5546 254 >19.28 b 581 4931 235 >20.11 u 325 6007 506 >20.17 uvw1 704 5956 416 >19.92 uvm2 5551 5751 196 >19.53 uvw2 803 5341 235 >19.97 The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.70 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16718 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B : Correction to GCN 16713 DATE: 14/08/19 13:15:25 GMT FROM: Karla Varela at MPE F. Knust, K. Varela, and J. Greiner (all MPE Garching) report on behalf of the GROND team: The afterglow candidate reported in GCN 16713 is the same as the one reported by Aceituno et al. (GCN 16711) located at the edge of the 1.9 arcsec XRT error circle at: RA (J2000): 18:04:32.47 Dec (J2000): -01:23:09.7 The GROND i’-band magnitude suggests it has decayed by about 2 magnitudes within 3.5 hours, thus confirming this source to be the afterglow of GRB 140818B. The magnitudes of the second source reported correspond to a source at the edge of the 3.9 arcsec XRT error circle at : RA (J2000): 18:04:32.78 Dec (J2000): -01:23:08.43 We apologize for this mistake. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16719 SUBJECT: Konus-Wind observation of GRB 140818A DATE: 14/08/19 14:37:57 GMT FROM: Valentin Pal'shin at Ioffe Inst S. Golenetskii, R. Aptekar, D. Frederiks, V. Pal'shin, P. Oleynik, M. Ulanov, D. Svinkin, A. Tsvetkova, A. Lysenko, and T. Cline on behalf of the Konus-Wind team, report: A long duration GRB 140818A (MAXI/GSC detection: Honda et al., GCN 16702, 16705; Fermi-GBM detection: Roberts, GCN 16708) triggered Konus-Wind at T0=19880.472 s UT (05:31:20.472). The burst light curve shows a rather weak pulse at ~T0-83 s followed by the main emission episode at ~T0-15 s. The total duration of the burst is ~126 s. The emission is seen up to ~2 MeV. The Konus-Wind light curve of this GRB is available at http://www.ioffe.ru/LEA/GRBs/GRB140818_T19880/ As observed by Konus-Wind, the burst had a fluence of 3.68(-0.21,+0.22)x10^-5 erg/cm2, and a 64-ms peak flux, measured from T0+24.304 s, of (2.29+/-0.49)x10^-6 erg/cm2/s (both in the 20 keV - 10 MeV energy range). The time-averaged spectrum of the burst (measured from T0 to T0+41.216 s) is best fit in the 20 keV - 3 MeV range by a power law with exponential cutoff model: dN/dE ~ (E^alpha)*exp(-E*(2+alpha)/Ep) with alpha = -1.11 (-0.13,+0.14) and Ep = 219 (-21,+26) keV (chi2 = 68/68 dof). Fitting by a GRB (Band) model yields the same alpha and Ep, and an upper limit on the high energy photon index: beta < -2.7 (chi2 = 68/67 dof) All the quoted errors are at the 90% confidence level. All the quoted values are preliminary. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16721 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B, Swift-BAT refined analysis DATE: 14/08/19 19:08:38 GMT FROM: Amy Lien at GSFC H. A. Krimm (GSFC/USRA), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), J. R. Cummings (GSFC/UMBC), N. Gehrels (GSFC), A. Y. Lien (NASA/UMBC), C. B. Markwardt (GSFC), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (AGU), M. Stamatikos (OSU), J. Tueller (GSFC), T. N. Ukwatta (LANL) A. Vargas (PSU) (i.e. the Swift-BAT team): Using the data set from T-240 to T+962 sec from the recent telemetry downlink, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 140818B (trigger #609885) (Vargas, et al., GCN Circ. 16709). The BAT ground-calculated position is RA, Dec = 271.168, -1.354 deg which is RA(J2000) = 18h 04m 40.2s Dec(J2000) = -01d 21' 14.3" with an uncertainty of 2.1 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment). The partial coding was 39%. The mask-weighted light curve shows a single-peaked structure starts at ~T-4 sec and peaks at ~ T+1 sec. The main pulse ends at ~T+2 sec, with some weak emission lasting till ~T+18 sec. T90 (15-350 keV) is 18.1 +- 5.0 sec (estimated error including systematics). The time-averaged spectrum from T-3.5 to T+18.1 sec is best fit by a simple power-law model. The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is 1.99 +- 0.25. The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 5.4 +- 0.8 x 10^-7 erg/cm2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T+0.31 sec in the 15-150 keV band is 1.1 +- 0.3 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/609885/BA/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16726 SUBJECT: GRB 140818A: GROND confirmation of afterglow candidate DATE: 14/08/20 13:22:12 GMT FROM: Fabian Knust at MPE/GROND GRB 140818A: GROND confirmation of afterglow candidate F. Knust, K. Varela, and J. Greiner (all MPE Garching) report on behalf of the GROND team: We observed the field of GRB 140818A (MAXI/GSC nova alert; Honda et al., GCN 16702) 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 23:15 UT on 2014-08-18, 15 hours after the GRB trigger. They were performed at an average seeing of 2.7" and at an average airmass of 1.9. We detect an optical/NIR counterpart at the position of the Swift-XRT and UVOT afterglow candidate reported by Swenson et al. (GCN 16706) with magnitudes g' = 22.4 +/- 0.2 mag, r' = 21.7 +/- 0.1 mag, i' = 22.0 +/- 0.2 mag, z' > 21.9 mag, J > 20.7mag, H > 20.2 mag, and K > 17.7 mag all in AB system. GROND photometry indicates that the UVOT source (Swenson et al., GCN 16706) has faded, confirming it as the afterglow. The given magnitudes are derived based on calibrating the images against SDSS zeropoints and 2MASS field stars and are not corrected for the Galactic foreground extinction corresponding to a reddening of E_(B-V)= 0.036 mag in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16728 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B: ISON-Kislovodsk and ISON-Burakan optical upper limit DATE: 14/08/20 14:50:32 GMT FROM: Alexei Pozanenko at IKI, Moscow A. Pozanenko (IKI), E. Romas (ISON), V. Nevskiy (ISON), G. Ohanian (Byurakan Astrophisical Observatory), H. Andreasyan (Byurakan Astrophisical Observatory), A. Volnova (IKI), I. Molotov (KIAM), report on behalf of larger collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 140818B (Vargas et al., GCN 16709) with Santel-400AN telescope of ISON-Kislovodsk observatory starting on (UT) 18:54:36 and ISON-Burakan ORI-40 starting on (UT) 18:55:08. In the enhanced XRT position (Beardmore et al., GCN 16712) we do not detect optical afterglow candidate (Aceituno et al., GCN 16711; Knust et al., GCN 16713) neither in the first image nor in the stacked images. Preliminary photometry is based on nearby USNO-B1.0 stars, R2 magnitudes: Date UT start t-T0 Filter Exp. UL(3 sigma) Observatory (mid, days) (s) 2014-08-18 18:54:36 0.0198 None 7*100 19.0 Kislovodsk 2014-08-18 18:55:08 0.0174 None 21*60 18.5 Burakan //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16748 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B: TLS observations DATE: 14/08/27 09:23:17 GMT FROM: Sebastian Schmidl at TLS Tautenburg S. Schmidl, S. Klose, D. A. Kann, U. Laux, L. Pfeifer, C. Pohl, and H. Meusinger (all TLS Tautenburg) report: We observed the field of GRB 140818B (Swift trigger 609885, Vargas et al., GCN 16709) with the 1.34m Tautenburg Schmidt telescope. Starting at 20:34 UT (1.83 hr after the trigger), we obtained in total 12 x 120s Rc-band images. Observations were obtained at a mean airmass of 1.75. In a stack of all available images, we detect the source reported by Aceituno et al. (GCN 16711). Using USNO-B1 field stars for calibration, we derive a preliminary magnitude (Vega magnitude system) of Rc = 20.9 +/- 0.2, at a midtime of 2.08 hr after the burst. The given magnitude is not corrected for the large Galactic foreground extinction corresponding to a reddening of E_(B-V) = 0.73 mag in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16757 SUBJECT: GRB140818B, the review of the sky area in plate archives DATE: 14/08/30 19:39:14 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 GRB140818B (Vargas et al., GCN 16709; Beardmore et al., GCN 16712) 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. LM  USNOA2 0825 19910613/222704 GUA040C001802A 22.5 15.9   -11812892 19910709/205250 GUA040C001826A 23.5 15.7   -11814106 19820715/175441 TAS040A000284    23.0 17.3   -11812584   No any object has been found in the point with the mentioned coordinates of GRB. But the image of some object have found near GRB position on the two of selected plates. Brighness of the object is estimated as V=15.0 and V=16.5:   Plates                   RA,(J2000.0),Dec          V GUA040C001802A 18:04:32.08 -01:22:57.0 15.0 TAS040A000284    18:04:32.63 -01:22:55.6 16.5 Plates:  GUA040C–the plates archive identifier of DWA (D/F=400/2000,          M=103"/mm) of the Ukrainian NAS Main Astro obs.          (Marsden's number - 83) the plate number [1]. TAS040A -the plates archive identifier of DAZ (D/F=400/3000,          M=68.8"/mm) of the Tashkent Astro obs.          (Marsden's number - 186) the plate number [1]. Exp.   - Duration of the maximum exposure (minutes). LM - Limited V mag, derived in the 2,5 arcmin area around        the location given in GCN Circ.16712:        RA(J2000): 18h 04m 32.53s, Dec(J2000): -01d 23' 10.6" USNOA2 - Comparison star.   The preview images of 3 areas together with  the 2,5x2,5 min.of arc area from SkyMap can be found in  http://gua.db.ukr-vo.org/img/grb/140818B/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 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16780 SUBJECT: GRB 140818B: TShAO optical upper limit DATE: 14/09/05 06:16:20 GMT FROM: Alexei Pozanenko at IKI A. Pozanenko (IKI), I. Rewa, W. Mundrzyjewski, A. Kusakin (Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute), A. Volnova (IKI), report on behalf of larger GRB follow-up collaboration: We observed the field of the Swift GRB 140818B (Vargas et al., GCN 16709)with Zeiss-1000 (East) telescope of Tien Shan Astronomical Observatory starting on Aug. 19, (UT) 17:05. We took several images in R-filter. Within enhanced XRT error circle (Beardmore et al., GCN 16712) we do not detect the afterlow (Aceituno et al., GCN 16711; Knust et al., GCN 16713). The source mentioned by Knust et al. (GCN 16713) is clearly visible in a stacked image in coordinates (J2000) 18:04:32.76 -01:23:08.9 (uncertainty is 0.2 arcsec in both coordinates) and has brightness of R=22.1+/-0.1. Details of a photometry of the stacked image are following Date UT start t-T0,d Exp,s Filter Up_Lim (3 sigma) (mid) 2014-08-19 16:11:12 0.9317 20*600 R 22.9 The photometry is based on nearby USNO-B1.0 stars, R2 magnitudes. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 17854 SUBJECT: GRB 140818A: Swift ToO observations DATE: 15/05/21 18:06:35 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester P. A. Evans (U. Leicester) reports on behalf of the Swift team: Swift has initiated a ToO observation of the MAXI GRB 140818A. Automated analysis of the XRT data will be presented online at http://www.swift.ac.uk/ToO_GRBs/00020412 Any uncatalogued X-ray sources detected in this analysis will be reported on this website and via GCN COUNTERPART notices. These are not necessarily related to the MAXI event. Any X-ray source considered to be a probable afterglow candidate will be reported via a GCN Circular after manual consideration. Details of the XRT automated analysis methods are detailed in Evans et al. (2007, A&A, 469, 379; 2009, MNRAS, 397, 1177 and 2014, ApJS, 210, 8). This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.