TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 8770 SUBJECT: Swift UVOT observations of GRB 090102 DATE: 09/01/02 17:15:34 GMT FROM: Peter Curran at MSSL P.A. Curran (UCL-MSSL), V. Mangano (INAF-IASF PA) and S.T. Holland (GSFC) on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team. The Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) began settled observations of the Swift localised GRB 090102 (#338895; Mangano et al., GCN 8762) ~400 seconds after the BAT trigger. An afterglow, consistent with the enhanced XRT position (Beardmore et al., GCN 8765) and with the afterglow candidate of Klotz et al. (GCN 8761), is detected at the position reported by Mangano et al. (GCN 8762). The source is detected in the initial optical observations but quickly fades (with alpha ~ 0.9 +/- 0.2 in white filter) below detection limits. The initial magnitudes (or 3 sigma limits) are: Filter t_mid(s) Exp(s) Mag wh 470. 147. 18.04 +/- 0.04 v 382. 10. 17.02 +/- 0.29 b 660. 19. 18.35 +/- 0.27 u 635. 19. 17.89 +/- 0.26 uvw1 3547. 255. >19.99 uvm2 6278. 197. >19.67 uvw2 1035. 388. >20.45 The detection in u along with the limits in uvw1 and bluer is consistent with a redshift of approximately ~1.8 < z < ~2.5 and with the spectroscopic redshift suggested by de Ugarte Postigo et al. (GCN 8766). The values quoted above are in the UVOT photometric system (Poole et al. 2008, MNRAS, 383, 627). They are not corrected for the expected Galactic extinction corresponding to a reddening of E(B-V)=0.047 mag in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998).