{
  "bibcode": "2011GCN.12648....1V",
  "body": "Paul Vreeswijk (U. Iceland), Johan Fynbo (DARK), Andrea Melandri\n(INAF-OAB) report on behalf of the X-shooter GTO GRB afterglow\ncollaboration:\n\nThe afterglow of Swift GRB 111209A (Hoversten et al., GCN 12632, Klotz\net al., GCN 12633, Fugazza et al., GCN 12634) was observed with the\nX-shooter spectrograph mounted at the Kueyen unit of the VLT on Cerro\nParanal, Chile. Starting around 1 UT on 10 December 2011 (0.75 days\nafter the burst), a series of four spectra of 1200s each were secured,\ncovering the approximate wavelength range 0.3-2.5 micron. The slit\nwidth was set to 1\", resulting in a resolving power range of\n4500-7500.\n\nPreliminary reduction of the ultraviolet and visual parts of the\nspectra shows a smooth continuum with several absorption features that\nwe can identify with resonance absorption lines of FeII, MgII, MgI,\nCaII H and K at a redshift of z=0.677; this is the likely redshift of\nGRB 111209A.\n\nWe acknowledge the excellent support from the Paranal Observatory staff,\nin particular Willem-Jan de Wit, Dimitri Gadotti and Marcelo Lopez.\nWe are also very grateful for the flexibility and willingness of the\nVLT-I visiting astronomer, Stefan Kraus, to shift his observations\nto the end of the night, which have made these X-shooter observations possible.\n\n[GCN OPS NOTE(10dec11): Per author's request, the last paragraph was expanded.]",
  "circularId": 12648,
  "createdOn": 1323497155000,
  "email": "pmv@raunvis.hi.is",
  "subject": "GRB 111209A: VLT/X-shooter redshift",
  "submitter": "Paul Vreeswijk at U of Iceland  <pmv@raunvis.hi.is>",
  "eventId": "GRB 111209A"
}