TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  43114
SUBJECT: GRB 251215A: Swift/BAT-GUANO arcminute localization of a burst
DATE:    25/12/15 10:28:41 GMT
FROM:    Samuele Ronchini at PSU <sjs8171@psu.edu>


Samuele Ronchini (GSSI), James DeLaunay (PSU), Aaron Tohuvavohu (Cosmic Frontier), Jamie A. Kennea (PSU), Tyler Parsotan (NASA GSFC), Maia Williams (Northwestern) report:

Swift/BAT did not localize GRB 251215A onboard (T0: 2025-12-15T04:21:21.57 UTC, Fermi GCN 43104).

The Fermi notice, distributed in near real-time, triggered the Swift Mission Operations Center operated Gamma-ray Urgent Archiver for Novel Opportunities (GUANO; Tohuvavohu et al. 2020, ApJ, 900, 1).

Upon trigger by this notice, GUANO sent a command to the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) to save 200 seconds of BAT event-mode data from [-50,+150] seconds around the time of the burst. All the requested event mode data was delivered to the ground.

The position is found with the newly developed pipeline BAT-GLIMPSE: Gamma-ray Localization using Imaging and Mosaic techniques for Pointing and Slew Epochs (Ronchini et. al, in prep). The pipeline makes use of the tools from BatAnalysis ([Parsotan et al. 2025](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ade240)). The source was detected with an SNR = 6.5 in a 16.384 s analysis time bin starting at t0 - 4.096 s. 

Independently, the BAT likelihood search, NITRATES (DeLaunay + Tohuvavohu 2022, ApJ, 941, 169), confirms the detection of the burst in a 16.384 s analysis time bin starting at T0 - 4.096 s with a sqrt(TS) of 14.6. An arcminute localization is found with DeltaLLHOut of 63.97 and a DeltaLLHPeak of 36.66. See Section 9.1 and Figures 10 and 17 in the NITRATES paper for brief descriptions and interpretations of sqrt(TS), DeltaLLHPeak, and DeltaLLHOut. The NITRATES and BAT-GLIMPSE positions are compatible.

Moreover, at T0: 2025-12-15T04:23:36.28 UTC, also a CALET trigger (trig number 1449807236) activated GUANO. A signal is found by BAT-GLIMPSE during Swift slew using a mosaic technique. The source is found with an SNR = 27.1. The position is compatible with the one found by BAT-GLIMPSE and NITRATES for the Fermi-GBM trigger. Hence we conclude that the two signals are associated to the same GRB.

The BAT position is:

RA, Dec = 122.6526, -36.7395 deg which is

RA(J2000) = 08h 10m 36.62s 

Dec(J2000) = -36d 44’ 22.2″

with an estimated uncertainty of 3 arcmin radius.

More details about this burst can be found on the trigger report page here: https://guano.swift.psu.edu/trigger_report?id=787465318

XRT and UVOT follow-up has been requested. Results of follow-up observations will be reported in future circulars.

GUANO is a fully autonomous, extremely low latency, spacecraft commanding pipeline designed for targeted recovery of BAT event mode data around the times of compelling astrophysical events to enable more sensitive GRB searches.
A live reporting of Swift/BAT event data recovered by GUANO can be found at: https://www.swift.psu.edu/guano/