TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 8920 SUBJECT: GRB 090301: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 09/03/01 07:07:31 GMT FROM: David Palmer at LANL L. Vetere (PSU), C. Gronwall (PSU), J. A. Kennea (PSU), C. B. Markwardt (CRESST/GSFC/UMD), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (NASA/UMBC), M. H. Siegel (PSU) and M. C. Stroh (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 06:55:55 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 090301 (trigger=344582). Swift could not slew to the burst due to its proximity to the Sun (34 degrees). The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 338.140, +26.642 which is RA(J2000) = 22h 32m 34s Dec(J2000) = +26d 38' 32" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a complex multiple-peak structure with a duration of about 50 sec. The peak count rate was ~20,0000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~23 sec after the trigger. Due to an observing constraint, Swift cannot slew to the BAT position. There will thus be no XRT or UVOT data for this trigger. The source will become observable again after April 15th. Burst Advocate for this burst is L. Vetere (vetere AT astro.psu.edu). 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.)