GRB 020321
GCN Circular 1385
Subject
GRB020321 : Optical observations.
Date
2002-05-06T10:43:33Z (23 years ago)
From
Isabel Salamanca at U. of Amsterdam <isabel@science.uva.nl>
Isabel Salamanca, Evert Rol, L. Kaper (Univ. of Amsterdam),
A. J. Castro-Tirado (IAA-CSIC Granada), A. Fruchter (STScI, Baltimore),
J. Greiner (MPE Garching and AI Potsdam), J. Hjorth, (Univ. of Copenhagen),
E. Pian (INAF, OA Trieste), E. van den Heuvel (Univ. of Amsterdam),
on behalf of GRACE report:
Deep broad-band images of the NFI error box (GCN 1285 & 1348) and WFC
error box (GCN 1281 & 1284) of GRB 020321 were obtained with EFOSC at
the 3.6m telescope at ESO, La Silla.
The log of observations follows below:
Date (2000) exposure Filter lim mag (3 sigma)
==========================================================
March 21/22 900 sec/each UBVR U=22.4 B=24.1 V=23.6 R=23.8
March 23/24 900 sec/each VR V=23.7 R=23.6
April 18/19 1200 sec R R=23.6
Magnitudes were calibrated by using the standard star WOLF 629 of the
Landolt catalogue, observed during the first night, which was photometric.
Very close to the position of the X-ray counterpart reported by in 't
Zand et al. (GCN 1348) we found two objects which are not present in the DSS,
with coordinates:
Source RA(J2000) DEC(J000) error
A 16h 12m 44.1s, -83d 43' 09.2" 0.5 arcsec
B 16h 12m 44.4s, -83d 43' 15.5" 2 arcsec
X-ray 16h 12m 43.7s, -83d 43' 13.9" 4 arcsec
Their magnitudes at the three epochs are:
(March 21.18102 BURST TRIGGER in BeppoSAX)
Epoch UT(2002) Filter Source A Source B
===========================================================
March 22.2814 R 20.81 +/-0.03 22.84 +/- 0.11
March 22.3179 V 21.43 +/-0.03 22.98 +/- 0.14
March 22.4260 B 22.79 +/-0.08 23.84 +/- 0.21
March 22.4378 U > 23.6 > 23.6
March 24.3958 R 20.78 +/-0.04 23.30 +/- 0.22
March 24.4076 V 21.47 +/-0.05 23.54 +/- 0.30
April 19.2908 R 20.93 +/-0.04 23.68 +/- 0.26
-------
Note: UTs are mid-exposure.
Both sources are extended. Source "A" does not appear in the DSS 2
(red), although it has a magnitude similar to other stars
that are barely visible in the DSS image. However, it does not show
any clear fading behaviour as would be expected from a GRB optical
afterglow.
Source "B" consists of two 'blobs', one of which disappears at epochs
2 and 3. The decrease in magnitude is too shallow for the usual
power-law behaviour of an afterglow: the index alpha would be ~0.2,
while for gamma-ray afterglows alpha is usually around 1. However,
this could be consistent with an OT superposed on its host-galaxy.
Images in V and R for the three epochs, as well as a light curve can
be found at http://zon.wins.uva.nl/~isabel/GRBs/GRB020321/grb020321.html
This message can be cited.
GCN Circular 1348
Subject
X-ray afterglow of GRB020321
Date
2002-04-10T12:09:39Z (24 years ago)
From
Jean int Zand at SRON <jeanz@sron.nl>
J.J.M. in 't Zand, University of Utrecht and Space Research
Organization Netherlands (SRON); L. Kuiper and J. Heise, SRON; L. Piro
and G. Gandolfi, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica,
Rome, report:
"A refined analysis of the BeppoSAX Narrow Field Instruments data on
GRB 020321, collected between 8.1 and 10.6 hrs after the burst, has
resulted in a significance of only 3.0 for the tentative X-ray afterglow
detection reported in GCN 1285. The source is also not confirmed by
the XMM-Newton observation that took place between 10.3 and 24.2 hrs
after the burst (see
http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/external/xmm_news/items/grb020321). Therefore,
we regard this detection as marginal. We would like to point out
another source which is outside the error circle of the marginal NFI
source but inside the WFC error circle of the burst (GCN 1281) and
which draws the attention through a comparison between the XMM-Newton
EPIC-pn image and the Chandra ACIS-S3 observation (a 5.5 hr exposure
starting 9.9 days after the burst; see Fox et al., GCN Circ. 1342). It
concerns source No. 2 in the EPIC-pn image which is located at
R.A. = 16h 12m 43.7s, Decl. = -83d 43' 13.9"
(equinox 2000.0; error 4"). This source 1) is 0.9' from the WFC
centroid; 2) shows a declining, though not smoothly, trend in the
EPIC-pn photon count rate (see aforementioned Vilspa web page); 3) is
the only EPIC-pn source covered but not detected in the ACIS-S3
image. Therefore, we propose that this is likely the X-ray afterglow
and urge optical and radio observers to concentrate on this position
for this 'dark' GRB.
We thank P. Rodrigues, N. Schartel and M. Santos at the XMM-Newton
Science Operations Centre (ESA) in Vilspa for advice on the XMM-Newton
data."
This message may be cited.
GCN Circular 1342
Subject
GRB 020321: Candidate X-ray Counterparts
Date
2002-04-08T23:44:03Z (24 years ago)
From
Derek Fox at CIT <derekfox@astro.caltech.edu>