TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23883 SUBJECT: GRB 190211A: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 19/02/11 17:13:07 GMT FROM: Jamie A. Kennea at PSU/Swift-XRT F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), P. A. Evans (U Leicester), J.D. Gropp (PSU), J. A. Kennea (PSU), N. J. Klingler (PSU), H. A. Krimm (NSF/USRA), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL), B. Sbarufatti (PSU), M. H. Siegel (PSU), A. Tohuvavohu (PSU) and S. F. Tooke (U Leicester) report on behalf of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Team: At 16:54:44 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 190211A (trigger=888648). Swift slewed after a short delay to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 196.675, +41.966 which is RA(J2000) = 13h 06m 42s Dec(J2000) = +41d 57' 58" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a complex structure with a duration of about 3 sec. The peak count rate was ~1300 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~1 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 16:58:01.1 UT, 196.4 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find an uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 196.65896, 41.96717 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 13h 06m 38.15s Dec(J2000) = +41d 58' 01.8" with an uncertainty of 3.6 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 43 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 (1.72 x 10^20 cm^-2, Willingale et al. 2013), with an excess column of 3.8 (+2.01/-1.78) x 10^21 cm^-2 (90% confidence). UVOT data are not available at this time. Burst Advocate for this burst is F. E. Marshall (marshall AT milkyway.gsfc.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: /too.html.)