GCN Circular 41937
Subject
GRB 250920B: Glowbug gamma-ray detection
Event
Date
2025-09-22T14:59:17Z (a day ago)
From
C.C. Cheung at Naval Research Lab <Teddy.Cheung@nrl.navy.mil>
Via
Web form
C.C. Cheung, R. Woolf, M. Kerr, J.E. Grove (NRL), A. Goldstein (USRA), C.A. Wilson-Hodge, D. Kocevski (MSFC), and M.S. Briggs (UAH) report:
The Glowbug gamma-ray telescope [1,2,3], operating on the International Space Station, reports the detection of GRB 250920B, which was also detected by Fermi/GBM (GCN 41897, 41919) and Swift/BAT (GCN 41898, 41923).
Using an adaptive window with a resolution of 32-ms, the burst onset is determined to be 2025-09-20 08:46:28.344 with a duration of 129.5 s and a total significance of over 30 sigma. The observed light curve comprises an initial multi-peaked structure from ~T0 to T0+7.5s, followed by peaks at ~T0+76s, ~T0+107s, and ~T0+128s.
The analysis results presented here are preliminary and use a response function that lacks a detailed characterization of the surrounding passive structure of the ISS.
Glowbug is a NASA-funded technology demonstrator for sensitive, low-cost gamma-ray transient telescopes developed, built, and operated by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with support from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, USRA, and NASA MSFC. It was launched on 2023 March 15 aboard the Department of Defense Space Test Program’s STP-H9 to the ISS, and operated until 2024 April when it was put in safe storage on orbit. Glowbug was recently removed from storage and resumed operation on 2025 September 12.
[1] Grove, J.E. et al. 2020, Proc. Yamada Conf. LXXI, arXiv:2009.11959
[2] Woolf, R.S. et al. 2022, Proc. SPIE, 12181, id. 121811O
[3] Woolf, R.S. et al. 2024, Proc. SPIE, 13151, id. 1315108
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