TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 40228 SUBJECT: GRB 250424A: VLT/X-shooter spectroscopic redshift z = 0.310 DATE: 25/04/24 09:42:20 GMT FROM: Daniele B. Malesani at IMAPP / Radboud University d.malesani@astro.ru.nl
A. Saccardi (CEA/Irfu), D. B. Malesani (DAWN/NBI and Radboud Univ.), G. Corcoran (UCD), S. Covino (INAF/OAB), N. Habeeb (Leicester), L. Izzo (INAF/OACN and DARK/NBI), A. J. Levan (Radboud and Warwick), A. Martin-Carrillo (UCD), J. T. Palmerio (CEA/Irfu), G. Pugliese (API), B. Schneider (LAM), N. R. Tanvir (Leicester), S. D. Vergani (LUX-Paris Obs.), K. Wiersema (Hertfordshire), report on behalf of the Stargate collaboration:
We observed the optical and NIR afterglow of GRB 250424A (Francile et al., GCN 40222; Cenko et al., GCN 40224; Brivio et al., GCN 40225; Becerra et al., GCN 40226) using the ESO VLT UT3 (Melipal) equipped with the X-shooter spectrograph. Observations started on 2025 Apr 24.322 UT (0.87 hr after the Swift/BAT trigger) and consisted of a sequence of increasing exposure times (175, 300, 600, 1200, 1920 s).
In the acquisition image (taken at a mid time of 0.851 hr after the Swift/BAT trigger), the counterpart is well detected with a magnitude r = 19.09 +- 0.02, calibrated against nearby stars from the SkyMapper catalog (Wolf et al. 2018, doi:10.4225/41/593620ad5b574).
We detect a bright continuum over the wavelength range 3100 to 24,500 AA. Many absorption features are visible which we interpret as Mn II, Fe II, Mg II, Mg I, Ti II, Ca II, Na I, including a number of fine-structure transitions from Fe II*, all at a common redshift z = 0.310. At a consistent redshift, we also detect several emission lines, due to [O II], [O III], [S II], [N II], and the Balmer lines from the GRB host galaxy (Perez-Fournon et al., GCN 40227). We note that our redshift is consistent with the photometric determination z = 0.33 +/- 0.12 of the host redshift from the Legacy Survey (Zhou et al. 2021, doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3764).
We acknowledge excellent support from the ESO observing staff in Paranal.
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