GCN Circular 12460

T. Sakamoto (NASA/UMBC), M. M. Chester (PSU),
J. R. Cummings (NASA/UMBC), P. A. Evans (U Leicester),
C. Guidorzi (U Ferrara), V. Mangano (INAF-IASFPA),
K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL) and
P. Romano (INAF-IASFPA) report on behalf of the Swift Team:

At 06:33:49 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 111020A (trigger=505926).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 287.027, -37.985 which is 
   RA(J2000) = 19h 08m 06s
   Dec(J2000) = -37d 59' 05"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve showed a short single peak
structure with a duration of about 0.5 sec.  The peak count rate
was ~3000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0 sec after the trigger. 

The XRT began observing the field at 06:35:01.8 UT, 72.8 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find an uncatalogued
X-ray source located at RA, Dec 287.05305, -38.01178 which is
equivalent to:
   RA(J2000)  = 19h 08m 12.73s
   Dec(J2000) = -38d 00' 42.4"
with an uncertainty of 4.1 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 121 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 6.89
x 10^20 cm^-2 (Kalberla et al. 2005). 

UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter
starting 79 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 0.43. 

Burst Advocate for this burst is T. Sakamoto (Taka.Sakamoto AT nasa.gov). 
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.)