GCN Circular 5926

S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), D. N. Burrows (PSU), M. M. Chester (PSU),
J. R. Cummings (NASA/UMBC), P. A. Evans (U Leicester),
N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC), O. Godet (U Leicester),
C. B. Markwardt (GSFC/UMD), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC),
K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL),
M. Stamatikos (NASA/ORAU) and R. L. C. Starling (U Leicester) report
on behalf of the Swift Team:

At 03:40:08 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 061217 (trigger=251634).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 160.442, -21.118 which is 
   RA(J2000)  =  10h 41m 46s
   Dec(J2000) = -21d 07' 05"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve shows a single spike
of approximately 400 msec duration.  The peak count rate
was ~4500 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0 sec after the trigger. 

The XRT began taking data at 03:41:12 UT, 64 seconds after the BAT
trigger. The XRT on-board centroid algorithm did not find a source in
the image and no source is detected in 17 s of promptly available
photon counting mode data. We are waiting for down-linked data to
detect and determine a position for the source. 

Initial data products were not received from the UVOT because it was
not in its normal observing configuration at the time of the BAT
trigger. The UVOT returned to its normal configuration at 03:46:15. 
Data are expected in approximately 2.5 hours.