TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23602 SUBJECT: GRB 190103B: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 19/01/03 21:14:34 GMT FROM: Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), J. A. Kennea (PSU), H. A. Krimm (NSF/USRA), M. J. Moss (George Washington University), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL), J. L. Racusin (NASA/GSFC) and A. Tohuvavohu (PSU) report on behalf of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Team: At 21:03:51 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 190103B (trigger=881709). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 212.574, +35.261, which is RA(J2000) = 14h 10m 18s Dec(J2000) = +35d 15' 40" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve shows several overlapping peaks with a duration of about 40 sec. The peak count rate was ~5800 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 21:05:24.5 UT, 93.3 seconds after the BAT trigger. XRT found a bright, uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 212.5695, 35.2617 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 14h 10m 16.68s Dec(J2000) = +35d 15' 42.1" with an uncertainty of 4.8 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 13 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the BAT error circle. No event data are yet available to determine the column density using X-ray spectroscopy. The initial flux in the 2.5 s image was 7.42e-09 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10 keV). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 102 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 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated on-board covers 100% of the XRT 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 0.01. Burst Advocate for this burst is A. Y. Lien (amy.y.lien 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.)