GCN Circular 9216
Subject
GRB 090423: TNG Amici spectrum
Event
Date
2009-04-24T03:17:30Z (17 years ago)
From
Paolo D'Avanzo at INAF-OAB <paolo.davanzo@brera.inaf.it>
C. C. Thoene (INAF-OAB), P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB/U. Bicocca), A.
Fernandez-Soto (IFCA-Santander), S. Campana, D. Fugazza (INAF-OAB),
L.A. Antonelli (INAF-OAR), G. Chincarini (Univ. Bicocca), S. Covino
(INAF-OAB), V. D'Elia (INAF-OAR), A. De Ugarte-Postigo (ESO), D.
Malesani (Dark/NBI), E. Palazzi (IASF-Bo), R. Salvaterra (INAF-OAB), A.
Fiorenzano (TNG) report, on behalf of a larger collaboration:
We observed the afterglow of GRB 090423 (Krimm et al. GCN 9198; Tanvir
et al. GCN 9202; Levan et al., GCN 9206; Cucchiara et al., GCN 9209)
with the Italian TNG 3.6m telescope located in the Canary Islands
(Spain). The observations were performed using the Amici grism. We took
a 2 hrs spectrum starting around Apr 23 at 22:16 UT (about 14.35 hours
after the burst) and covering the range 600-2700 nm with a resolution of
R ~ 50.
A preliminary analysis of the combined spectrum shows a very weak signal
at the position of the NIR afterglow. No signal is observed below
observed lambda ~ 10500 Angstrom. Assuming that the lack of signal at
bluer wavelengths is due to Ly-alpha absorption in the IGM this gives a
redshift of z ~ 7.6 (in agreement with the estimate of Olivares et al.,
GCN 9215). We point out that our wavelength calibration is based on an
archival wavelength table.
We are very grateful for the excellent support of the TNG staff.
[GCN OPS NOTE(24apr09): Per author's request, the author list was revised.]