GCN Circular 43396

R. A. J. Eyles-Ferris (U Leicester), J. A. Kennea (PSU),
H. A. Krimm (NSF), N. P. M. Kuin (UCL-MSSL), K. L. Page (U Leicester)
and B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB) report on behalf of the Neil Gehrels
Swift Observatory Team:

At 11:40:26 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 260114A (trigger=1440319).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst.
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 74.602, -7.994 which is 
   RA(J2000) = 04h 58m 25s
   Dec(J2000) = -07d 59' 37"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve showed a single-peaked
structure with a duration of about 0.5 sec.  The peak count rate
was ~16000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0 sec after the trigger.

The XRT began observing the field at 11:42:28.4 UT, 122.2 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find an uncatalogued
X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 74.59830, -8.01433
which is equivalent to:
   RA(J2000)  = 04h 58m 23.59s
   Dec(J2000) = -08d 00' 51.6"
with an uncertainty of 3.3 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 74 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 https://www.swift.ac.uk/sper.  We
cannot determine whether the source is fading at the present time. 

A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event
data gives a column density consistent with the Galactic value of 5.72
x 10^20 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013).

UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter
starting 126 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 100% of
the XRT error circle. The typical 3-sigma upper limit has been about 19.6 mag.
The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated on-board covers 100% of the
XRT error circle. The list of sources is typically complete to about 18 mag. No
correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of
0.080.

Burst Advocate for this burst is R. A. J. Eyles-Ferris (raje1 AT leicester.ac.uk).
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/)