TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19686 SUBJECT: GRB 160712A: Swift-XRT observations DATE: 16/07/12 21:28:03 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester J.A. Kennea (PSU), G. Cusumano (INAF-IASF PA), M. Perri (ASDC), P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester) and D.N. Burrows (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: The XRT began observing the field of GRB 160712A at 20:47:52.7 UT, 3256.7 seconds after the BAT trigger. The position determined from promptly downlinked data differs significantly from the on-board position, suggesting that the XRT may have centroided on a cosmic ray; the initial XRT position notice should be treated with caution. Using promptly downlinked data we find an uncatalogued X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 304.1600, -26.9582 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 20h 16m 38.40s Dec(J2000) = -26d 57' 29.4" with an uncertainty of 2.1 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 89 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. A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event data gives a column density in excess of the Galactic value (8.30 x 10^20 cm^-2, Willingale et al. 2013), with an excess column of 2.7 (+2.97/-2.55) x 10^21 cm^-2 (90% confidence).