TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 6475 SUBJECT: GRB 070531: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 07/05/31 02:30:45 GMT FROM: Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC C. B. Markwardt (GSFC/UMD), L. M. Barbier (NASA/GSFC), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), M. M. Chester (PSU), N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC), S. D. Hunsberger (PSU), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL) and M. Stamatikos (NASA/ORAU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 02:10:17 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 070531 (trigger=280958). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 6.678, +74.304 which is RA(J2000) = 00h 26m 43s Dec(J2000) = +74d 18' 14" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve shows a single FRED-like peak with a duration of about 20 sec. The peak count rate was ~1000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~2 sec after the trigger. The XRT began taking data at 02:12:25 UT, 128 seconds after the BAT trigger. The XRT on-board centroid algorithm did not find a source in the image and no prompt position is available. We are waiting for down-linked data to detect and determine a position for the source. UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 100 seconds with the White (160-650 nm) filter starting 131 seconds after the BAT trigger. No afterglow candidate has been found in the initial data products. The 2.7'x2.7' sub-image covers 25% of the BAT error circle. The typical 3-sigma upper limit has been about 18.5 mag. The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated on-board covers 100% of the BAT 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 0.38.