//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 22256 SUBJECT: GRB 171216A: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 17/12/16 03:23:29 GMT FROM: David Palmer at LANL F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), J. R. Cummings (NASA/UMBC), A. Deich (PSU), J.D. Gropp (PSU), J. A. Kennea (PSU), A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), K. L. Page (U Leicester) and D. M. Palmer (LANL) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 03:06:59 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 171216A (trigger=797441). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 212.078, -50.473 which is RA(J2000) = 14h 08m 19s Dec(J2000) = -50d 28' 22" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a complex structure with a duration of ~20 sec. The peak count rate was ~600 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~4 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 03:08:54.7 UT, 115.2 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a bright, fading, uncatalogued X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 211.9924, -50.4851 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 14h 07m 58.17s Dec(J2000) = -50d 29' 06.3" with an uncertainty of 2.1 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 200 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position. 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 consistent with the Galactic value of 2.84 x 10^21 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The initial flux in the 2.5 s image was 5.37e-10 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10 keV). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 123 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. Because of the density of catalogued stars, further analysis is required to report an upper limit for any afterglow in the sub-image. The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated on-board covers 100% of the XRT error circle. Because of the density of catalogued stars, further analysis is required to report an upper limit for any afterglow in the region. No correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.26. 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: http://www.swift.psu.edu/too.html.) //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 22257 SUBJECT: GRB 171216A: Enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 17/12/16 11:41:49 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester M.R. Goad, J.P. Osborne, A.P. Beardmore and P.A. Evans (U. Leicester) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team. Using 3440 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 7 UVOT images for GRB 171216A, we find an astrometrically corrected X-ray position (using the XRT-UVOT alignment and matching UVOT field sources to the USNO-B1 catalogue): RA, Dec = 211.99069, -50.48474 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 14h 07m 57.77s Dec (J2000): -50d 29' 05.1" with an uncertainty of 1.5 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence). This position may be improved as more data are received. The latest position can be viewed at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_positions. Position enhancement is described by Goad et al. (2007, A&A, 476, 1401) and Evans et al. (2009, MNRAS, 397, 1177). This circular was automatically generated, and is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 22259 SUBJECT: GRB 171216A: Swift-BAT refined analysis DATE: 17/12/16 17:08:52 GMT FROM: Amy Lien at GSFC C. B. Markwardt (GSFC), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), J. R. Cummings (CPI), H. A. Krimm (NSF/USRA), A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (AGU), M. Stamatikos (OSU), T. N. Ukwatta (LANL) (i.e. the Swift-BAT team): Using the data set from T-240 to T+302 sec from the recent telemetry downlink, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 171216A (trigger #797441) (Marshall et al., GCN Circ. 22256). The BAT ground-calculated position is RA, Dec = 212.013, -50.500 deg which is RA(J2000) = 14h 08m 03.0s Dec(J2000) = -50d 30' 01.2" with an uncertainty of 2.1 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment). The partial coding was 63%. The mask-weighted light curve shows a weak single-peaked structure that starts at ~T0, peaks at ~T+3 s, and ends at ~ T+30 s. T90 (15-350 keV) is 30.0 +- 7.5 sec (estimated error including systematics). The time-averaged spectrum from T-0.45 to T+33.47 sec is best fit by a simple power-law model. The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is 1.63 +- 0.30. The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 4.8 +- 1.0 x 10^-7 erg/cm2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T+3.05 sec in the 15-150 keV band is 0.8 +- 0.2 ph/cm2/sec. All the quoted errors are at the 90% confidence level. The results of the batgrbproduct analysis are available at http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/notices_s/797441/BA/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 22260 SUBJECT: GRB 171216A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 17/12/16 23:12:15 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), V. D'Elia (ASDC), A. D'Ai (INAF-IASFPA), J.A. Kennea (PSU), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), D.N. Burrows (PSU), S.L. Gibson (U. Leicester), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester) and F.E. Marshall report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 8.0 ks of XRT data for GRB 171216A (Marshall et al. GCN Circ. 22256), from 134 s to 64.4 ks after the BAT trigger. The data are entirely in Photon Counting (PC) mode. The enhanced XRT position for this burst was given by Goad et al. (GCN Circ. 22257). The light curve can be modelled with an initial power-law decay with an index of alpha=2.9 (+0.6, -0.3), followed by a break at T+456 s to an alpha of 0.86 (+0.10, -0.09). A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.76 (+0.16, -0.09). The best-fitting absorption column is consistent with the Galactic value of 2.8 x 10^21 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 4.2 x 10^-11 (5.3 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 2.8 (+/-0.3) x 10^21 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 2.8 x 10^21 cm^-2 Excess significance: <1.6 sigma Photon index: 1.76 (+0.16, -0.09) If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of 0.86, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 4.0 x 10^-3 count s^-1, corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 1.7 x 10^-13 (2.1 x 10^-13) erg cm^-2 s^-1. The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00797441. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 22262 SUBJECT: GRB 171216A: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits DATE: 17/12/19 14:12:09 GMT FROM: Frank Marshall at Swift/UVOT F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC) reports on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 171216A 124 s after the BAT trigger (Marshall et al., GCN Circ. 22256). No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position (Goad et al., GCN Circ. 22257) is detected in the initial UVOT exposures. Preliminary 3-sigma upper limits using the UVOT photometric system (Breeveld et al. 2011, AIP Conf. Proc. 1358, 373) for the first finding chart (FC) exposure and subsequent exposures are: Filter T_start(s) T_stop(s) Exp(s) Mag white_FC 124 274 147 >21.3 u_FC 282 532 246 >18.4 v 613 17562 371 >17.8 b 539 6997 359 >19.8 u 282 6886 678 >18.6 w1 662 6681 452 >19.3 m2 637 6476 274 >19.3 w2 588 12734 720 >20.1 These preliminary results may be affected by the presence of a bright source about 10" from the XRT position. The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.26 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998).