TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  561
SUBJECT: GRB 000214 ``Valentine's Day Burst'': BeppoSAX NFI Observation
DATE:    00/02/16 23:26:36 GMT
FROM:    Angelo Antonelli at Obs. Astro. di Roma  <angelo@quasar.mporzio.astro.it>

L.A. Antonelli, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Rome; 
L. Piro, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, CNR, Rome;
G. Tarei, G. Tassone, C. De Libero, M. Stornelli, D. Ricci, 
BeppoSAX Science Operations Center, Telespazio, Rome;  
M. Capalbi, M.R. Daniele, BeppoSAX Science Data Center, Rome; 
R.C. Butler, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Rome; J. Heise, Space 
Research Organization Netherlands, Utrecht; F. Frontera, 
Universita' di Ferrara, Ferrara; report: 

"GRB 000214 ``Valentine's Day Burst'' was observed with the Narrow 
Field Instruments (NFI) on board BeppoSAX from Feb. 14.5479 to 
15.0793 UT (starting about 12 hrs after the burst trigger time). 
In the 2-10 keV image of all data from both MECS units 2 and 3, a 
fading point source ( 1SAX J185427-6627.5 ) is detected within the 
WFC error box (Paolino et al., GCN #557 and #559). The source position 
is R.A. = 18h54m27.0s, Decl. = -66d27'30" (Eq. 2000) with 50" error 
radius. In the first 20,000 s the source had a 2-10 keV flux of 5E-13 
erg/cmE2/s and faded by a factor of two in the last 20,000 s. We conclude 
that 1SAX J185427-6627.5 is the X-ray afterglow of GRB 000214." 

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