[vsnet-grb-info 14339] GRB 140102A: Swift detection of a burst with optical counterpart

[GCN Circulars]

TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  15653
SUBJECT: GRB 140102A: Swift detection of a burst with optical counterpart
DATE:    14/01/02 21:27:38 GMT
FROM:    Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC  <scott at milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov>

L. M. Z. Hagen (PSU), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC),
W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), D. N. Burrows (PSU),
S. B. Cenko (GSFC), D. Grupe (PSU), S. T. Holland (STScI),
H. A. Krimm (CRESST/GSFC/USRA), V. Mangano (PSU),
K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (AGU),
B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), C. A. Swenson (PSU), T. N. Ukwatta (MSU)
and B.-B. Zhang (UAH) report on behalf of the Swift Team:

At 21:17:37 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 140102A (trigger=582760).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 211.902, +1.331 which is 
   RA(J2000) = 14h 07m 37s
   Dec(J2000) = +01d 19' 52"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve showed a double-peaked
structure with a total duration of about 8 sec.  The peak count rate
was ~55,000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0 sec after the trigger. 

The XRT began observing the field at 21:18:34.3 UT, 56.8 seconds after
the BAT trigger. XRT found a bright, uncatalogued X-ray source located
at RA, Dec 211.9190, 1.3333 which is equivalent to:
   RA(J2000)  = +14h 07m 40.56s
   Dec(J2000) = +01d 19' 59.9"
with an uncertainty of 4.8 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 61 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the BAT
error circle. No event data are yet available to determine the column
density using X-ray spectroscopy. 

The initial flux in the 2.5 s image was 7.00e-09 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10
keV). 

UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter
starting 65 seconds after the BAT trigger. There is a candidate afterglow in
the rapidly available 2.7'x2.7' sub-image at
  RA(J2000)  =	14:07:40.65 = 211.91936
  DEC(J2000) = +01:19:59.7  =	1.33325
with a 90%-confidence error radius of about 0.74 arc sec. This position is 1.3
arc sec. from the center of the XRT error circle. The estimated magnitude is
15.98 with a 1-sigma error of about  0.14. No correction has been made for the
expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.03. 

Burst Advocate for this burst is L. M. Z. Hagen (lea.zernow.hagen AT gmail.com). 
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.)