GCN Circular 20846

J. R. Cummings (NASA/UMBC), K. L. Page (U Leicester),
D. M. Palmer (LANL) and B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU) report on behalf
of the Swift Team:

At 08:08:42 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 170311A (trigger=741965).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 280.563, -30.063 which is 
   RA(J2000) = 18h 42m 15s
   Dec(J2000) = -30d 03' 45"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve showed a complex
structure with a duration of about 15 sec.  The peak count rate
was ~1200 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~2 sec after the trigger. 

The XRT began observing the field at 08:10:28.0 UT, 105.1 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a fading,
uncatalogued X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 280.5893,
-30.0458 which is equivalent to:
   RA(J2000)  = 18h 42m 21.43s
   Dec(J2000) = -30d 02' 44.8"
with an uncertainty of 2.1 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 102 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. 

A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event
data gives a column density consistent with the Galactic value of 1.30
x 10^21 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). 

UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter
starting 109 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. Because of the density of
catalogued stars, further analysis is required to report an upper limit for any
afterglow in the region. No correction has been made for the expected
extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.16. 

Burst Advocate for this burst is J. R. Cummings (jayc AT milkyway.gsfc.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.)