TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39068
SUBJECT: The EP-WXT trigger 01709131085 is likely a flaring star
DATE: 25/01/29 05:37:57 GMT
FROM: EP Team at NAOC/CAS <ep_ta(a)bao.ac.cn>
D. Y. Li (NAOC, CAS), Y.-H. I. Yin (NJU), W. M. Yuan (NAOC, CAS) report on behalf of the Einstein Probe team:
The EP-WXT trigger (ID: 01709131085) on 2025-01-29 04:49:22 (UTC) is likely a stellar flare associated with a high proper motion star RX J0448.7+1003. The estimated flux of the flare is around 2.0 x 10^-10 erg/s/cm^2 in 0.5-4.0 keV, corresponding to an X-ray luminosity of around 7.1 x 10^30 erg/s.
Launched on January 9, 2024, EP is a space X-ray observatory to monitor the soft X-ray sky with onboard X-ray follow-up capability (Yuan et al. 2022, Handbook of X-ray and Gamma-ray Astrophysics).
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39068.
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TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39066
SUBJECT: GRB 250129A: Swift detection of a burst with an optical counterpart
DATE: 25/01/29 05:12:01 GMT
FROM: K.L. Page at U Leicester <klp5(a)leicester.ac.uk>
A. P. Beardmore (U Leicester), S. Dichiara (PSU) and
K. L. Page (U Leicester) report on behalf of the Neil Gehrels Swift
Observatory Team:
At 04:45:09 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 250129A (trigger=1285812). Swift slewed immediately to the burst.
The BAT on-board calculated location is
RA, Dec 198.689, +5.039 which is
RA(J2000) = 13h 14m 45s
Dec(J2000) = +05d 02' 19"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including
systematic uncertainty). As is typical for an image trigger, the BAT light curve
shows no significant peaks.
The XRT began observing the field at 04:47:47.6 UT, 158.6 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a bright,
uncatalogued X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 198.67654,
5.03019 which is equivalent to:
RA(J2000) = 13h 14m 42.37s
Dec(J2000) = +05d 01' 48.7"
with an uncertainty of 1.9 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 54 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 https://www.swift.ac.uk/sper. We
cannot determine whether the source is fading at the present time. No
spectrum from the promptly downlinked event data is yet available to
determine the column density.
The initial flux in the 0.1 s image was 1.18e-08 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10
keV).
UVOT took a finding chart exposure of nominal 150.000 seconds with the White
filter starting 1184 seconds after the BAT trigger. There is a candidate
afterglow in the list of sources generated on-board at
RA(J2000) = 13:14:42.42 = 198.67673
DEC(J2000) = +05:01:50.3 = 5.03063
with a 90%-confidence error radius of about 1.10 arc sec. This position is 2.7
arc sec. from the center of the XRT error circle. The estimated magnitude is
17.88. No correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to
E(B-V) of 0.037.
Burst Advocate for this burst is A. P. Beardmore (apb AT star.le.ac.uk).
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/)
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39066.
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TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39065
SUBJECT: Swift GRB250129.20: Global MASTER-Net OT detection
DATE: 25/01/29 05:08:46 GMT
FROM: Vladimir Lipunov at Moscow State U/Krylov Obs <lipunov(a)xray.sai.msu.ru>
C.Francile, F. Podesta, R.Podesta, E. Gonzalez (Observatorio Astronomico Felix Aguilar (OAFA),
V.Lipunov, E.Gorbovskoy, N.Tiurina, P.Balanutsa, D.Vlasenko, I.Panchenko, A.Kuznetsov, G.Antipov,
A.Sankovich, A.Sosnovskij, Yu.Tselik, M.Gulyaev, Ya.Kechin, V.Senik, A.Chasovnikov, K.Labsina (Lomonosov MSU),
O.Gress, N.Budnev(ISU),
A. Tlatov, D. Dormidontov (Kislovodsk Solar Station of the Pulkovo Observatory),
A. Gabovich, V.Yurkov (Blagoveschensk Educational StateUniversity)
D.Buckley (SAAO),
R.Rebolo (The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias),
L.Carrasco, J.R.Valdes, V.Chavushyan, V.M.Patino Alvarez, J.Martinez, A.R.Corella, L.H.Rodriguez (INAOE, Guillermo Haro Astrophysics Observatory)
MASTER-OAFA robotic telescope (Global MASTER-Net: http://observ.pereplet.ru, Lipunov et al., 2010, Advances in Astronomy, vol. 2010, 30L) located in Argentina (OAFA observatory of San Juan National University) was pointed to the GRB250129.20 162 sec after notice time and 240 sec after trigger time at 2025-01-29 04:49:09 UT. On our second (60s exposure) set , obtained 296 sec after tigger time at 2025-01-29 04:50:05 UT, we found 1 optical transient within Swift error-box (ra=198.683 dec=5.03833 r=0.05) brighter than 18.3.
T-Tmid Date Time Expt. Ra Dec Mag
---------|---------------------|-------|-----------------|-----------------|-------
326 2025-01-29 04:50:05 60 (13h 14m 42.38s , +05d 01m 50.1s) 17.5
The 5-sigma upper limit has been about 18.3mag
The message may be cited.
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39065.
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TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39064
SUBJECT: GRB 250128B: Swift-XRT refined Analysis
DATE: 25/01/29 04:02:14 GMT
FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester <pae9(a)star.le.ac.uk>
J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester), K.L. Page (U. Leicester), C. Salvaggio
(INAF-OAB), M. Ferro (INAF-OAB), R. Brivio (INAF-OAB), D.N. Burrows
(PSU), M. A. Williams (PSU), S. Dichiara (PSU) and P.A. Evans report on
behalf of the Swift-XRT team:
We have analysed 7.0 ks of XRT data for GRB 250128B, from 87 s to 33.6
ks after the BAT trigger. The data are entirely in Photon Counting
(PC) mode. The best available XRT position (using the promptly
downlinked event data, the XRT-UVOT alignment and matching UVOT field
sources to the USNO-B1 catalogue) is RA, Dec = 231.42552, -0.53950
which is equivalent to:
RA (J2000): 15 25 42.12
Dec(J2000): -00 32 22.2
with an uncertainty of 1.9 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence).
The light curve can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay
index of alpha=1.17 (+0.16, -0.14).
A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed
power-law with a photon spectral index of 2.0 (+0.7, -0.6). The
best-fitting absorption column is 1.9 (+2.9, -1.1) x 10^21 cm^-2,
consistent with the Galactic value of 8.0 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Willingale et
al. 2013). The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux
conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 3.7 x 10^-11 (5.1 x
10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1.
A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus:
Total column: 1.9 (+2.9, -1.1) x 10^21 cm^-2
Galactic foreground: 8.0 x 10^20 cm^-2
Excess significance: <1.6 sigma
Photon index: 2.0 (+0.7, -0.6)
If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of
1.17, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 1.5 x 10^-4 count s^-1,
corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 5.7 x
10^-15 (7.6 x 10^-15) erg cm^-2 s^-1.
The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at
http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/01285677.
This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39064.
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TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39063
SUBJECT: GRB 250128B: Fermi GBM Observation
DATE: 25/01/28 22:42:25 GMT
FROM: Ava Myers at NASA GSFC <ava.myers(a)nasa.gov>
A. Myers (NPP/GSFC) and C. Meegan (UAH) report on behalf of
the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor Team:
"At 16:22:53.77 UT on 28 January 2025, the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM)
triggered and located GRB 250128B (trigger 759774178/250128683).
which was also detected by Swift BAT (P.A Evans et al. 2025, GCN [39058](https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39058)).
The Fermi GBM on-ground location is consistent with the Swift BAT position.
The angle from the Fermi LAT boresight is 86 degrees.
The GBM light curve consists of a short single emission episode with a duration (T90)
of about 1.1 s (50-300 keV). The time-averaged spectrum
from T0-0.8 to T0+0.4 s is best fit by
a power law function with an exponential high-energy cutoff. The power law index is
-1.0 +/- 0.5 and the cutoff energy, parameterized as Epeak, is 176 +/- 115 keV. A power law
function with index -1.6 +/- 0.2 fits the spectrum equally well.
The event fluence (10-1000 keV) in this time interval is
(2.1 +/- 0.7)E-07 erg/cm^2. The 64-ms peak photon flux measured
starting from T0-0.064 s in the 10-1000 keV band is 9 +/- 2 ph/s/cm^2.
The spectral analysis results presented above are preliminary;
final results will be published in the GBM GRB Catalog:
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/fermi/fermigbrst.html
For Fermi GBM data and info, please visit the official Fermi GBM Support Page:
https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/access/gbm/"
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39063.
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TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39062
SUBJECT: GRB 250128B: GOTO optical upper limit
DATE: 25/01/28 19:52:11 GMT
FROM: Ben Gompertz at U of Birmingham <b.gompertz(a)bham.ac.uk>
K. Ulaczyk, D. O'Neill, G. Ramsay, B. P. Gompertz, R. Starling, M. Kennedy, K. Ackley, M. J. Dyer, J. Lyman, A. Kumar, F. Jimenez-Ibarra, D. Steeghs, D. K. Galloway, V. Dhillon, P. O'Brien, K. Noysena, R. Kotak, R. P. Breton, L. K. Nuttall, E. Palle and D. Pollacco report on behalf of the GOTO collaboration:
The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO; Steeghs et al. 2022, Dyer et al. 2024) covered the field of Fermi and Swift triggered GRB 250128B (GCN 39057, 39058) at 2025-01-28 17:36:35 UT (+1.23h post-trigger). The observation was taken by GOTO-South, and consisted of 4x90s exposures in the GOTO L-band (400-700 nm).
Images were processed immediately after acquisition using the GOTO pipeline. Difference imaging was performed using deeper template observations of the same pointings. Source candidates were initially filtered using a classifier (Killestein et al. 2021) and cross-matched against a variety of contextual and minor planet catalogues.
We do not identify any candidate optical counterparts within the Swift XRT localisation uncertainty region, down to a 3-sigma limiting magnitude of L > 20.4 AB mag, consistent with the non-detections reported by Izzo et al. (GCN 39059) and Lipunov et al. (GCN 39061).
Magnitudes were calibrated using ATLAS-REFCAT2 (Tonry et al. 2018) and are not corrected for Galactic extinction.
GOTO (https://goto-observatory.org<https://goto-observatory.org/>) is a network of telescopes that is principally funded by the STFC and operated at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, Spain, and Siding Spring Observatory in NSW, Australia, on behalf of a consortium including the University of Warwick, Monash University, Armagh Observatory & Planetarium, the University of Leicester, the University of Sheffield, the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT), the University of Turku, the University of Portsmouth, the University of Manchester and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC).
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39062.
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TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39061
SUBJECT: Swift GRB 250128B: Global MASTER-Net observations report
DATE: 25/01/28 19:24:30 GMT
FROM: Vladimir Lipunov at Moscow State U/Krylov Obs <lipunov(a)xray.sai.msu.ru>
V.Lipunov, E.Gorbovskoy, N.Tiurina, P.Balanutsa, , D.Vlasenko, I.Panchenko,
A.Kuznetsov, G.Antipov, A.Sankovich, A.Sosnovskij, Yu.Tselik, M.Gulyaev, Ya.Kechin,
V.Senik, A.Chasovnikov, K.Labsina, I. Gorbunov (Lomonosov MSU),
O.Gress, N.Budnev (ISU),
C.Francile, F. Podesta, R.Podesta, E. Gonzalez (Observatorio Astronomico Felix Aguilar (OAFA),
A. Tlatov, D. Dormidontov (Kislovodsk Solar Station of the Pulkovo Observatory),
A. Gabovich, V.Yurkov (Blagoveschensk Educational StateUniversity)
D.Buckley (SAAO),
R.Rebolo (The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias),
L.Carrasco, J.R.Valdes, V.Chavushyan, V.M.Patino Alvarez, J.Martinez,
A.R.Corella, L.H.Rodriguez (INAOE, Guillermo Haro Astrophysics Observatory)
MASTER-Tunka robotic telescope (Global MASTER-Net: http://observ.pereplet.ru, Lipunov et al., 2010, Advances in Astronomy, vol. 2010, 30L) located in Russia (Applied Physics Institute, Irkutsk State University) was pointed to the Swift GRB 250128B ( P. A. Evans et al., GCN 39058) errorbox 8555 sec after notice time and 8574 sec after trigger time at 2025-01-28 18:45:48 UT, with upper limit up to 17.9 mag. The observations began at zenith distance = 83 deg. The sun altitude is -52.9 deg.
The galactic latitude b = 43 deg., longitude l = 3 deg.
Real time updated cover map and OT discovered available here:
https://master.sai.msu.ru/site/master2/observ.php?id=2759219
We obtain a following upper limits.
Tmid-T0 | Site |Filt.| Expt. | Limit| Comment
_________|_____________________|_____|_______|______|________
8665 | MASTER-Tunka | C | 180 | 12.6 |
10262 | MASTER-Tunka | C | 90 | 13.9 |
10400 | MASTER-Tunka | C | 45 | 13.1 |
10453 | MASTER-Tunka | C | 36 | 14.1 |
10502 | MASTER-Tunka | C | 36 | 14.9 |
10550 | MASTER-Tunka | C | 30 | 14.8 |
10590 | MASTER-Tunka | C | 26 | 14.8 |
10627 | MASTER-Tunka | C | 20 | 17.9 |
10660 | MASTER-Tunka | C | 20 | 17.9 |
10693 | MASTER-Tunka | C | 20 | 17.9 |
Filter C is a clear (unfiltred) band.
The observation and reduction will continue.
The message may be cited.
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39061.
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TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39060
SUBJECT: EP250125a: Upper limits from Swift/BAT-GUANO
DATE: 25/01/28 18:20:50 GMT
FROM: Samuele Ronchini at PSU <sjs8171(a)psu.edu>
Samuele Ronchini (PSU), James DeLaunay (PSU), Tyler Parsotan (NASA GSFC), Jamie A. Kennea (PSU), Aaron Tohuvavohu (Caltech), Gayathri Raman (PSU) report:
Swift/BAT did not detect EP250125a onboard (T0: 2025-01-25T02:37:31.749 UTC, EP GCN 39028).
The EP notice distributed in near real-time, triggered the Swift Mission Operations Center operated Gamma-ray Urgent Archiver for Novel Opportunities (GUANO; [Tohuvavohu et al. 2020, ApJ, 900, 1](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aba94f)).
Upon trigger by this notice, GUANO sent a command to the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) to save 200 seconds of BAT event-mode data from [-50,+150] seconds around the time of the burst. All the requested event mode data was delivered to the ground.
Using the NITRATES analysis ([DeLaunay + Tohuvavohu 2022, ApJ, 941, 169](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac9d38)), we searched for emission on 8 timescales from 0.128s to 16.384s in the interval [-20,+20] seconds around the trigger time. We find no evidence for a signal, and derive the following upper limits.
We quote the 5-sigma flux upper limits in the 15-350 keV band, computed at the EP250125a position RA = 175.36337 deg , Dec = -21.71347 deg provided in GCN 39029, for three spectral templates (soft, normal, and hard GRB-like templates described in [arXiv:1612.02395]) and for four time bins.
In units of 10^-7 erg/s/cm^2:
|time_bin (s) |soft |normal|hard
|-|-|-|-
|0.256 |7.23 |5.47 | 5.08
|1.024 |3.68 |2.79 | 2.59
|4.096 |1.98 |1.50 | 1.39
|16.384 |1.21 |0.92 | 0.85
GUANO is a fully autonomous, extremely low latency, spacecraft commanding pipeline designed for targeted recovery of BAT event mode data around the times of compelling astrophysical events to enable more sensitive GRB searches.
A live reporting of Swift/BAT event data recovered by GUANO can be found at: [https://www.swift.psu.edu/guano/]()
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39060.
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TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39059
SUBJECT: GRB 250128A: LCO optical observations
DATE: 25/01/28 18:09:00 GMT
FROM: luca.izzo(a)inaf.it
L. Izzo (INAF-OACn and DARK/NBI), and D. B. Malesani (DAWN/NBI and Radboud Univ.) report:
We observed the field of the short GRB 250128A (Evans et al., GCN #39058) with the Sinistro instrument mounted on the 1-m telescope of the LCO network, located at Siding Spring, Australia. Observations started on 2025 January 28 at 17:19 UT (0.95 hr after the GRB trigger). We obtained a single image of 300s in the SDSS-r and SDSS-i filters.
We did not detect any source consistent with the position of the X-ray afterglow reported by Swift-XRT (Evans et al., GCN #39058) up to a limit of r = 19.4 mag and z = 18.4 mag.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101004719.
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39059.
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