[vsnet-grb-info 11012] GRB 111008A: Gemini spectroscopic redshift

[GCN Circulars]

TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  12429
SUBJECT: GRB 111008A: Gemini spectroscopic redshift
DATE:    11/10/09 06:31:58 GMT
FROM:    Andrew Levan at U.of Leicester  <A.J.Levan at warwick.ac.uk>

A.J. Levan (Warwick), K. Wiersema, N.R. Tanvir (Leicester) report
for a larger collaboration:

"We obtained optical spectroscopy of the candidate counterpart of
GRB 111008A (Saxton et al. GCN 12423, Levan et al. GCN 12426),
with GMOS on Gemini-South. Observations were centred at 6000A, 
and cover the region from 3900-8100A. We see flux from the 
candidate afterglow down to ~5500A, and a broad absorption feature 
centred at ~7300A, with a brighter continuum red-ward of this.  If 
interpreted as a DLA then this suggests that the redshift of 
GRB 111008A is z~5. We also find weak absorption lines of 
Ly-beta, OI(1302), CII(1334) and SiII (1260.5), consistent with a 
common redshift of z=5.0.

We note that there was a typographical error in the co-ordinates
of GCN 12426, which should have read

RA(J2000) 04:01:48.24 
DEC(J2000) -32:42:33.4

We thank Javier Gorosabel for pointing this error out, and apologise
for any confusion."