TO: All GCN Notice recipients RE: Fermi-GBM-Final Notice added DT: 7 Jun 11 INTRODUCTION The GCN system has been modified to incorporate the distribution of a new notice type added to the set of Fermi-GBM notices. This new notice type has improved position values for the GBM GRBs because it involves humans-in-the-loop ground analysis. Like all the notice types within the GCN system, users can elect to receive the Fermi-GBM-Final Notice type. ACTION ITEM: If, after reviewing the information below, you want to receive this Fermi-GBM-Final Position notice type, please send me a request to have them enabled. You can do this by forwarding this email with your request to scott@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov (since it already has your "site name"). Or you can go to http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/config_builder.html and select "#2 Modify existing Config". You can also take this opportunity to make other changes to your config. CONTENT and PURPOSE: This new type has the advantage of better location accuracy because of human-in-the-loop data analysis. And the disadvantage is that this type has a longer delay (because the analysis is not automated like the Flight_Position and Ground_Position types). OCCURANCE RATE: The Final Notice will be issued within a latency of ~2 hours for the brightest 10-20% of the bursts that do not have a more precise location by another instrument. Final notices for less-well-located bursts (up to ~10 degrees) may also be issued, possibly with a longer latency. So that means about 60 per year for the brightest bursts and about 100 per year for weaker bursts. ERRORS and TIME_DELAYS (for all the GBM types): This table (below) shows the delay_timescales and localization accuracies of all the GBM notice types (with the new Final type in the last row): TIME SINCE LOCATION TYPE BURST ACCURACY COMMENTS (radius) ========= ============ ========== ======== GBM_Alert ~5sec n/a First GBM Notice, Timestamp Alert GBM_Flt_Pos ~10sec 15deg(1 sigma) First (of a series) Position Notice, Flight-calculated GBM_Gnd_Pos 20-300sec 1-10deg+3sys Position Notice, Automated-Ground-calculated GBM_Final_Pos 0.3-2 hr 1-3deg+3sys Position Notice, Human-in-the-Loop-Ground-calculated ARCHIVE STORAGE: All the GCN/FERMI Notices are archived within the GCN website in the Table of FERMI GRBs: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/fermi_grbs.html MORE INFORMATION: Can be found at: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/fermi.html NOTICE EXAMPLE: Here is an example of a full-format email GBM Final_Position Notice: TITLE: GCN/FERMI NOTICE NOTICE_DATE: Mon 06 Jun 11 14:48:44 UT NOTICE_TYPE: Fermi-GBM Final Position RECORD_NUM: 0 TRIGGER_NUM: 328940614 GRB_RA: 14.950d {+00h 59m 48s} (J2000), 15.118d {+01h 00m 28s} (current), 14.219d {+00h 56m 52s} (1950) GRB_DEC: +52.460d {+52d 27' 36"} (J2000), +52.521d {+52d 31' 17"} (current), +52.191d {+52d 11' 26"} (1950) GRB_ERROR: 1.00 [deg radius, statistical only] GRB_DATE: 15717 TJD; 156 DOY; 11/06/05 GRB_TIME: 15812.30 SOD {04:23:32.30} UT GRB_PHI: 48.00 [deg] GRB_THETA: 109.09 [deg] E_RANGE: 50.000 - 300.000 [keV] LOC_ALGORITHM: 413 (Gnd S/W Version number) SUN_POSTN: 74.33d {+04h 57m 19s} +22.66d {+22d 39' 19"} SUN_DIST: 53.62 [deg] Sun_angle= 3.9 [hr] (West of Sun) MOON_POSTN: 134.77d {+08h 59m 04s} +12.87d {+12d 52' 18"} MOON_DIST: 96.70 [deg] MOON_ILLUM: 24 [%] GAL_COORDS: 124.23,-10.39 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the burst (or transient) ECL_COORDS: 37.98, 41.68 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the burst (or transient) COMMENTS: Fermi-GBM Final Position. COMMENTS: This Notice was ground-generated -- not flight-generated. The socket packets contents can be found at: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/sock_pkt_def_doc.html Sincerely, Scott Scott Barthelmy NASA-GSFC, Code 661, Greenbelt, MD 20771 PHONE: 301-286-3106 (office) CELL: 301-346-3733 FAX: 301-286-1684 (1st choice, -1682 2nd choice) EMAIL: scott@lheamail.gsfc.nasa.gov PAGER: 3013463733@cingularme.com WEB: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn