[vsnet-grb-info 14586] GRB 140301A: VLT/X-shooter redshift

[GCN Circulars]

TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  15900
SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: VLT/X-shooter redshift
DATE:    14/03/02 06:16:27 GMT
FROM:    Thomas Kruehler at Dark Cosmology Center  <tom at dark-cosmology.dk>

T. Kruehler (ESO), N. R. Tanvir (Univ. Leicester) D. Malesani,
D. Xu, J. P. U. Fynbo (DARK/NBI) report on behalf of a larger
collaboration:

We observed the optical source (Kruehler et al., GCN 15899)
inside the XRT error circle (Goad et al., GCN 15898) of
GRB 140301A (Page et al., GCN 15896) with the VLT equipped
with the X-shooter spectrograph.

Our spectrum covers the wavelength range between 3000 and
20000 AA and consists of 12 nodded spectra with an
integration time of 600 s each. A preliminary analysis of
the spectrum reveals a faint continuum in which we
tentatively identify absorption lines of the MgII doublet
at z = 1.416.

At the same redshift and with a spatial offset of up to ~1"
we detect strong emission lines of [OII], Hbeta, [OIII],
Halpha and [NII], characteristic for emission from the
GRB host.

We acknowledge excellent support from the observing staff
in Paranal, in particular Julien Girard and Valentin Ivanov.