[vsnet-grb-info 19433] GRB 170526A: Swift detection of a burst

[GCN Circulars]

TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  21149
SUBJECT: GRB 170526A: Swift detection of a burst
DATE:    17/05/26 13:51:22 GMT
FROM:    Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC  <scott at milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov>

B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC),
S. B. Cenko (GSFC), C. Gronwall (PSU), J. A. Kennea (PSU),
N. P. M. Kuin (UCL-MSSL), A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), D. M. Palmer (LANL)
and M. H. Siegel (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team:

At 13:35:08 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 170526A (trigger=754549).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 4.708, +1.240 which is 
   RA(J2000)  =  00h 18m 50s
   Dec(J2000) = +01d 14' 22"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve shows a single peak
with a duration of about 8 sec.  The peak count rate
was ~1200 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~5 sec after the trigger. 

The XRT began observing the field at 13:37:13.2 UT, 124.3 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find an uncatalogued
X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 4.7074, 1.2773 which is
equivalent to:
   RA(J2000)  = 00h 18m 49.79s
   Dec(J2000) = +01d 16' 38.1"
with an uncertainty of 4.9 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 134 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the
BAT error circle. This position may be improved as more data are
received; the latest position is available at
http://www.swift.ac.uk/sper.  We cannot determine whether the source is
fading at the present time. 

A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event
data gives a column density consistent with the Galactic value of 3.16
x 10^20 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). 

UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter
starting 127 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 none of
the XRT error circle. The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated
on-board covers 100% of the XRT error circle. The list of sources is typically
complete to about 18 mag. No correction has been made for the expected
extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.03. 

Burst Advocate for this burst is B. Sbarufatti (boris.sbarufatti AT brera.inaf.it). 
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.)