GCN Circular 43761
Subject
EP260214a: Optical upper limits with Kinder observations
Event
Date
2026-02-16T10:22:14Z (7 days ago)
From
Amar Aryan at National Central University, Institute of Astronomy (NCUIA) <amararyan941@gmail.com>
Via
Web form
A. Aryan, C.-S. Lin, T.-W. Chen (all NCU), A. K. H. Kong (NTHU), J. H. Gillanders, S. J. Smartt (both Oxford), Y. J. Yang (NYUAD), Y.-H. Lee, A. Sankar.K, M.-H. Lee, C.-H. Lai, Y.-C. Pan, C.-C. Ngeow, W.-J. Hou, H.-Y. Hsiao, H.-C. Lin, J.-K. Guo (all NCU), S. Yang, Z. N. Wang, L. L. Fan, G. H. Sun (all HNAS), H.-W. Lin (UMich), H. F. Stevance, S. Srivastav, L. Rhodes (all Oxford), M. Nicholl, M. Fulton, T. Moore, K. W. Smith, C. Angus, A. Aamer (all QUB), A. Schultz, and M. Huber (both IfA, Hawaii) report:
We observed the field of the fast X-ray transient EP260214a (Li et al., GCN 43742 & GCN 43751) using the 40cm SLT at the Lulin observatory, as part of the Kinder collaboration (Chen & Yang et al. 2025, ApJ, 983, 86, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/adb428). The FXT was found to be coincident with GRB 260214A (Ravasio et al., GCN 43759). The first SLT epoch of observations in r-band started at 20:46 UTC on 14th of February 2026 (MJD 61085.865), 0.13 hr after the EP-WXT trigger.
We utilized the astroalign (Beroiz et al. 2020, A&C, 32, 100384) and astropy (Astropy Collaboration et al. 2022, ApJ, 935, 167) packages to align and stack the individual frames. We used the Python-based AutoPhOT package (Brennan & Fraser 2022, A&A, 667, A62) to perform template subtraction with the DESI Legacy Survey (Dey et al. 2019, AJ 157, 168) DR10 image using the 'SFFT' (Hu et al. 2022, ApJ, 936, 157) algorithm. Either in the stacked frame or in the difference image, we do not detect any new or uncataloged sources within the 10" refined EP-FXT localization circle (Li et al. GCN 43751).
Moreover, we used AutoPhOT to perform PSF photometry. The details of the observations and the measured 3-sigma upper limits (in the AB system) are as follows:
Telescope | Filter | MJD (start) | t-t0 (hr) | Exposure (s) | Magnitude | avg. Seeing | med. Airmass
SLT | r | 61085.865 | 0.13 | 300 * 6 | >20.6 | 2".62 | 1.79
The non-detection in our observations is consistent with those reported by Lipunov et al. (GCN 43743), Li et al. (GCN 43746), Watson et al. (GCN 43753), and He et al. (GCN 43754).
The presented magnitude is calibrated using the field stars from the Pan-Starrs catalog and is not corrected for the expected Galactic foreground extinction of A_r = 0.16 mag in the direction of the transient (Schlafly & Finkbeiner 2011). The methodology, details on the Lulin observatory telescopes, and a compilation of our optical follow-up campaign for FXTs discovered within the first year of operation of the Einstein-Probe mission are presented in Aryan et al. 2025, ApJS, 281, 20, doi:10.3847/1538-4365/adfc69.