GCN Circular 1954

T. Donaghy, M. Suzuki, Y. Shirasaki, C. Graziani, M. Matsuoka, T.
Tamagawa, K. Torii, T. Sakamoto, A. Yoshida, E. Fenimore, M. Galassi,
T. Tavenner, Y. Nakagawa, D. Takahashi, R. Satoh, and Y. Urata, on
behalf of the HETE WXM Team;

G. Ricker, J-L Atteia, N. Kawai, D. Lamb, and S. Woosley on behalf of
the HETE Science Team;

R. Vanderspek, J. Doty, J. Villasenor, G. Crew, G. Monnelly, N.
Butler, T. Cline, J.G. Jernigan, A. Levine, F. Martel, E. Morgan, G.
Prigozhin, G. Azzibrouck, J. Braga, R. Manchanda, and G. Pizzichini,
on behalf of the HETE Operations and HETE Optical-SXC Teams;

M. Boer, J-F Olive, J-P Dezalay, C.  Barraud and K. Hurley on behalf
of the HETE FREGATE Team;
   
write:

At 03:12:42.80 UTC (11562.80 s UT) on 24 Mar 2003, the HETE FREGATE
and WXM instruments detected event H2461, a long GRB.

The WXM flight localization was correct and was reported in a GCN
Notice at 03:13:07 UTC, 25 sec after the beginning of the burst 

Ground analysis of the WXM WXM data for the burst produced a refined
location, which was reported in a GCN Notice at 04:23:48 UT, 71 minutes
after the burst.  The WXM localization SNR was 16.  The WXM location
can be expressed as a 90% confidence circle that is 7 arcminutes in
radius and is centered at

WXM:   RA = +13h 37m 11s, Dec = -00d 19' 22" (J2000).

The SXC turns off at orbit dawn; this happened 10 sec before the
beginning of the burst, and therefore there will be no SXC localization
for this burst.

The burst duration t_90 in the 30-400 keV band was ~ 8.7 s.  The
fluence of the burst was 1.6 x 10-6 ergs cm-2 and the peak flux over 5
s was ~1.4 x 10-7 ergs cm-2 s-1 (i.e., ~ 5 x Crab flux) in the same
energy band.

A light curve and skymap for GRB030324 is provided at the following URL:

http://space.mit.edu/HETE/Bursts/GRB030324

[GCN OPS NOTE (25mar03): The Subject-line has been changed from the
incorrect "GRB030323 (=H2640): A Faint, Long GRB Localized by the HETE WXM
and SXC" to the correct "GRB030324 (=H2641): A Long GRB Localized in Real Time
by the HETE WXM".]