[vsnet-grb-info 4240] GRB070124: Swift-XRT Observation

[GCN Circulars]

TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  6038
SUBJECT: GRB070124: Swift-XRT Observation
DATE:    07/01/26 18:07:16 GMT
FROM:    Loredana Vetere at PSU  <vetere at astro.psu.edu>

L. Vetere, J. Racusin (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team:

The Swift-XRT began observing the field containing the IPN burst GRB070124
(Hurley et al., GCN 6022) at 2007-01-25  15:36:39.8881 UT almost 31 hr after
the trigger. From the analysis of a 7.4 ks photon counting image, 6 sources
are found with the following positions and count rates:
       cts/s                  Ra          Dec
  1 1.78E-03+/-6.1E-04    14 44 50.7   +54 34 11.8
  2 1.95E-03+/-6.7E-04    14 46 15.2   +54 37 01.8
  3 1.34E-03+/-5.8E-04    14 46 18.2   +54 34 23.0
  4 1.34E-03+/-5.8E-04    14 44 53.9   +54 26 31.9
  5 1.39E-03+/-6.0E-04    14 46 18.6   +54 38 06.5
  6 1.66E-03+/-6.8E-04    14 46 07.7   +54 25 51.0

Only source number 4 is actually inside the IPN error box and it is 0.042
arcmin from a USNO-B1.0 Catalog's source. The other five can all be identified
with close galaxies. In particular source 5 is UGC9522 an edge-on Sab galaxy
with z=0.03866 that is 1.5 arcmin distant from the nearest edge of the IPN
error box.
At present we cannot tell whether these sources are fading or not. Further
observations are planned.

This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.