TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 39413 SUBJECT: GRB 250221A: NOT optical observations DATE: 25/02/22 00:06:03 GMT FROM: Daniele B. Malesani at IMAPP / Radboud University d.malesani@astro.ru.nl
L. Cotter (UCD), D. B. Malesani (DAWN/NBI and Radboud Univ.), J. Palmerio (CEA/Irfu), A. de Ugarte Postigo (LAM), A. Martin-Carrillo (UCD), report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
We observed the optical afterglow (Francile et al., GCN 39395; Watson et al., GCN 39397; Melandri et al., GCN 39406; Shilling et al., GCN 39409; Guo et al., GCN 39412) of the Swift GRB 250221A (Caputo et al., GCN 39396), using the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) equipped with the ALFOSC camera. Observations were carried out in the griz filters. The afterglow is well detected in all filters.
In a single r-band observation with mid-time 2025 Feb 21.86 UT (17.07 hr after the trigger), we measure for the afterglow r = 22.0 +- 0.15 AB, calibrated against nearby Pan-STARRS objects. Our measurement is affected by the presence of a nearby object about 1" to the NW, visible in the Legacy Survey (Watson et al., GCN 39397). More accurate photometry can be attained via template subtraction.
The nearby object has a photometric redshift z = 0.34 +- 0.08 (Zhou et al. 2021, doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3764). The relationship between this object and the GRB is unclear at the moment.
We thank Alan Watson (UNAM) for providing us with accurate coordinates of the afterglow. We also thank the observers at the NOT for securing our data, in particular Linda Lombardo, Annika Schichtel, Clara Peter, Diego Mederos Leber, Svenja Heil, and Nina Caviziel (all Goethe University Frankfurt).
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