TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 10491 SUBJECT: GRB 100316C: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 10/03/16 09:12:15 GMT FROM: Michael Stamatikos at OSU/GSFC M. Stamatikos (OSU/NASA/GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), A. P. Beardmore (U Leicester), S. Campana (INAF-OAB), P. A. Evans (U Leicester), J. M. Gelbord (PSU), C. Guidorzi (U Ferrara), S. T. Holland (CRESST/USRA/GSFC), O. M. Littlejohns (U Leicester), R. Margutti (Univ Bicocca&OAB), C. B. Markwardt (CRESST/GSFC/UMD), P. T. O'Brien (U Leicester), C. Pagani (U Leicester), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL), P. Romano (INAF-IASFPA), M. H. Siegel (PSU), R. L. C. Starling (U Leicester) and L. Vetere (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 08:57:59 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 100316C trigger=416115). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 32.291, -68.009 which is RA(J2000) = 02h 09m 10s Dec(J2000) = -68d 00' 31" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a single-peaked structure with a duration of about 7 sec. The peak count rate was ~1500 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~1 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 08:59:17.9 UT, 78.3 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find an uncatalogued X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 32.2869, -67.9914 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 02h 09m 8.85s Dec(J2000) = -67d 59' 29.1" with an uncertainty of 2.4 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 63 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 in excess of the Galactic value (3.94e+20 cm-2, Kalberla et al. 2005), with an excess column of 2.6 (+2.05/-1.79) x 1021 cm-2 (90% confidence). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 81 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. The overlap of the 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated on-board and the BAT error circle is uncertain. No correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.04. Burst Advocate for this burst is M. Stamatikos (Michael.Stamatikos-1 AT nasa.gov). 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.)