GCN Circular 14953

N. P. M. Kuin (UCL-MSSL), D. Malesani (DARK/NBI),
K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (AGU),
M. Stamatikos (OSU/NASA/GSFC) and T. N. Ukwatta (MSU) report on behalf
of the Swift Team:

At 04:17:43 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 130701A (trigger=559482).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 357.216, +36.099 which is 
   RA(J2000) = 23h 48m 52s
   Dec(J2000) = +36d 05' 58"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve showed a double-peaked
structure with a duration of about 8 sec.  The peak count rate
was ~10304 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~1 sec after the trigger. 

The XRT began observing the field at 04:19:09.1 UT, 85.5 seconds after
the BAT trigger. XRT found a bright, uncatalogued X-ray source located
at RA, Dec 357.2287, 36.0997 which is equivalent to:
   RA(J2000)  = +23h 48m 54.89s
   Dec(J2000) = +36d 05' 58.9"
with an uncertainty of 5.3 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 37 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the BAT
error circle. No event data are yet available to determine the column
density using X-ray spectroscopy. 

UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 250 seconds with the U filter starting
150 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 100% of the
XRT error circle. The typical 3-sigma upper limit has been about 19.2 mag. 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 18.0 mag. No
correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of
0.09. 

Burst Advocate for this burst is N. P. M. Kuin (n.kuin AT ucl.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/too.html.)