GCN Circular 23883

F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), P. A. Evans (U Leicester),
J.D. Gropp (PSU), J. A. Kennea (PSU), N. J. Klingler (PSU),
H. A. Krimm (NSF/USRA), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL),
B. Sbarufatti (PSU), M. H. Siegel (PSU), A. Tohuvavohu (PSU) and
S. F. Tooke (U Leicester) report on behalf of the Neil Gehrels Swift
Observatory Team:

At 16:54:44 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 190211A (trigger=888648).  Swift slewed after a short delay 
to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 196.675, +41.966 which is 
   RA(J2000) = 13h 06m 42s
   Dec(J2000) = +41d 57' 58"
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 3 sec.  The peak count rate
was ~1300 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~1 sec after the trigger. 

The XRT began observing the field at 16:58:01.1 UT, 196.4 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find an uncatalogued
X-ray source located at RA, Dec 196.65896, 41.96717 which is equivalent
to:
   RA(J2000)  = 13h 06m 38.15s
   Dec(J2000) = +41d 58' 01.8"
with an uncertainty of 3.6 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 43 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 in excess of the Galactic value (1.72 x
10^20 cm^-2, Willingale et al. 2013), with an excess column of 3.8
(+2.01/-1.78) x 10^21 cm^-2 (90% confidence). 

UVOT data are not available at this time. 

Burst Advocate for this burst is F. E. Marshall (marshall 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: /too.html.)