TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 7203 SUBJECT: GRB 080123: Swift detection of a short burst DATE: 08/01/23 04:43:57 GMT FROM: Jamie A. Kennea at PSU/Swift-XRT T. N. Ukwatta (GSFC/GWU), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), M. M. Chester (PSU), N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC), S. T. Holland (CRESST/USRA/GSFC), E. A. Hoversten (PSU), S. Immler (CRESST/GSFC/UMD), J. A. Kennea (PSU), V. Mangano (INAF-IASFPA), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (NASA/UMBC), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-IASFPA) and D. E. Vanden Berk (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 04:21:57 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 080123 (trigger=301578). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 338.929, -64.890 which is RA(J2000) = 22h 35m 43s Dec(J2000) = -64d 53' 23" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a double-peaked structure with a duration of about 0.5 sec. The peak count rate was ~6000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0.1 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 04:23:38 UT, 102 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using prompt downlinked data, we find a bright, fading X-ray source located at RA, Dec 338.9446, -64.9011 which is RA(J2000) = 22h 35m 46.71s Dec(J2000) = -64d 54' 04.0" with an uncertainty of 1.6 arcsec (radius, 90% containment). This location is 46 arcseconds from the BAT on-board position, outside the BAT error circle. UVOT took a finding chart exposure of nominal 100 seconds with the White (160-650 nm) filter starting 111 seconds after the BAT trigger. No afterglow candidate has been found in the initial data products. Image catalog data are not available at this time. 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 0.03. Burst Advocate for this burst is T. N. Ukwatta (tilan.ukwatta 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.)