GCN Circular 35580
Subject
GRB 240118A: GRBAlpha detection
Event
Date
2024-01-19T17:40:49Z (2 years ago)
From
Marianna Dafčíková at Masaryk University <500025@mail.muni.cz>
Via
Web form
M. Dafcikova, J. Ripa (Masaryk U.), A. Pal (Konkoly Observatory), N. Werner (Masaryk U.), M. Ohno, H. Takahashi (Hiroshima U.), L. Meszaros, B. Csak (Konkoly Observatory), N. Husarikova, F. Munz , M. Topinka, M. Kolar, L. Szakszonova, J.-P. Breuer, F. Hroch (Masaryk U.), T. Urbanec, M. Kasal, A. Povalac (Brno U. of Technology), J. Hudec, J. Kapus, M. Frajt (Spacemanic s.r.o), R. Laszlo, M. Koleda (Needronix s.r.o), M. Smelko, P. Hanak, P. Lipovsky (Technical U. of Kosice), G. Galgoczi (Wigner Research Center/Eotvos U.), Y. Uchida, H. Poon, H. Matake (Hiroshima U.), N. Uchida (ISAS/JAXA), T. Bozoki (Eotvos U.), G. Dalya (Eotvos U.), T. Enoto (Kyoto U.), Zs. Frei (Eotvos U.), G. Friss (Eotvos U.), Y. Fukazawa, K. Hirose (Hiroshima U.), S. Hisadomi (Nagoya U.), Y. Ichinohe (Rikkyo U.), K. Kapas (Eotvos U.), L. L. Kiss (Konkoly Observatory), T. Mizuno (Hiroshima U.), K. Nakazawa (Nagoya U.), H. Odaka (Univ of Tokyo), J. Takatsy (Eotvos U.), K. Torigoe (Hiroshima U.), N. Kogiso, M. Yoneyama (Osaka Metropolitan U.), M. Moritaki (U. Tokyo), T. Kano (U. Michigan) -- the GRBAlpha collaboration.
The bright long-duration GRB 240118A (Fermi/GBM detection: GCN 35558; Fermi/LAT detection: GCN 35560; NuSTAR detection: GCN 35564; Konus/Wind detection: GCN 35567; Swift/BAT detection: GCN 35522; INTEGRAL/SPI-ACS detection: trigger no. 10477) was observed by the GRBAlpha 1U CubeSat (Pal et al. 2023, A&A, 677, 40; arXiv:2302.10048).
The detection was confirmed at the peak time 2024-01-18 01:49:22 UTC. The T90 duration measured by GRBAlpha is 58 s and the overall significance during T90 reaches 174 sigma.
The light curve shows a multiple-peaked structure which is consistent with light curves observed by other missions. However, GRBAlpha was passing through the van Allen radiation belt during the entire burst duration and therefore the measured count rate is subject to a higher variable background which cannot be distinguished from the burst itself.
The light curve obtained by GRBAlpha is available here: https://grbalpha.konkoly.hu/static/share/GRB240118A_GCN.pdf
All GRBAlpha detections are listed at: https://monoceros.physics.muni.cz/hea/GRBAlpha/
GRBAlpha, launched on 2021 March 22, is a demonstration mission for a future CubeSat constellation (Werner et al. Proc. SPIE 2018). The detector of GRBAlpha consists of a 75 x 75 x 5 mm3 CsI scintillator read out by a SiPM array, covering the energy range from ~50 keV to ~1000 keV. To increase the duty cycle and the downlink rate, the upgrade of the on-board data acquisition software stack is in progress. The ground segment is also supported by the radio amateur community and it takes advantage of the SatNOGS network for increased data downlink volume.