GRB 030913

K. Torii (RIKEN) reports:

 "A part of the WXM error region of GRB 030913 (HETE trigger 2849) was
observed by the Automated Response Telescope at RIKEN (0.25-m f/6.8
reflector equipped with unfiltered CCD AP6E). The observation started
at 2003 September 13, 17:08:24 UT (87 s after trigger), and 40 s
integration was repeated.

 In a stacked frame (12 x 40 s), no new object brighter than about
14.5 mag (USNO A2.0 red) is identified within the central 30x30
arcminutes area of the WXM position (Seq_Num 2). Further analysis is
in progress."

GRB030913 (=H2849): A GRB Possibly Localized by HETE

M. Suzuki, C. Graziani, J. Villasenor, G. Crew, R. Vanderspek,
M. Galassi, G. Ricker, D. Lamb, N. Kawai, and S. Woosley on behalf 
of the HETE Science Team;

G. Prigozhin, J. Doty, A. Dullighan, N. Butler, T. Cline, J.G. Jernigan, 
G. Azzibrouck, J. Braga, R. Manchanda, and G. Pizzichini, on behalf 
of the HETE Operations and HETE Optical-SXC Teams;

Y. Shirasaki, M. Matsuoka, T. Tamagawa, T. Sakamoto, A. Yoshida, 
K. Torii, Y. Nakagawa, D. Takahashi, R. Satoh, Y. Urata, E. Fenimore, 
and T. Donaghy, on behalf of the HETE WXM Team;

J-L Atteia, C. Barraud, M. Boer, J-F Olive, J-P Dezalay, and K. Hurley 
on behalf of the HETE FREGATE Team;

write:

At 17:06:57.52 UTC (61617.5 s UT) on 13 Sep 2002, the HETE FREGATE,
WXM, and SXC instruments detected event H2849, a relatively short GRB.  
The WXM flight localization was reported in a GCN Position Notice at 
17:07:35 UT, 37 sec after the burst.  The attitude of the spacecraft 
experienced a brief period of oscillations at just the time of GRB030913,
which degraded the flight Y-detector localization and prevented us
from confirming the flight localization to a high level of confidence
in initial ground analyses.  For this reason, the flight localization
was retracted in a GCN Notice sent at 21:18 on 13 Sep 2002.

Further analyses show that it is possible that the flight localization 
was indeed correct.  If you have observed the flight localization, we 
encourage you to examine it for the afterglow, in case it is correct.
The correct Y localization may be recoverable.

The WXM flight localization SNR was 3.0 in the X-detector and 2.2 in
the Y-detector.  The WXM flight localization can be expressed as a 90%
confidence circle that is 30 arcminutes in radius and is centered at

  WXM-Ground:   RA = +20h 58m 02s, Dec = -02d 12' 32" (J2000).

In the FREGATE 8-40 keV band, 8-80 keV band, and 30-400 keV band,
the burst had a duration of ~6 seconds (T90).  The burst significance
was 12 sigma in the 30-400 keV band, 6 sigma in the WXM 2-25 keV band.
Based on preliminatry spectral fits, the 30-400 keV fluence is roughly 
6e-7 erg/cm2 and the 7-30 keV fluence is roughly 8e-8 erg/cm2.  

Further information (including a light curve) for GRB030913 is provided
at the following URL:

  http://space.mit.edu/HETE/Bursts/GRB030913

This message is citable.

V. Lipunov, A. Krylov, V. Kornilov, G. Borisov, D. Kuvshinov, A. Belinski,
I. Chilingarian, M. Kuznetsov, S. Potanin, V. Vitrischak, G. Antipov

Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Alexsandr Krylov Observatory, Moscow

report:

MASTER system (280mm, http://observ.pereplet.ru) with new AP16E CCD camera
(~7 square degrees) was pointed automatically after receiving HETE 2849
alert (120 seconds after GRB time). But due to weather and technical
conditions the first direct image of the error box area was obtained 43
minutes after GRB. The weather conditions were poor (almost full Moon +
cirrus clouds), so the limiting magnitude of the first image was about
13.5 (unfiltered instrumental magnitude). After that we received about 100
images of the 7 square degrees (2.65x2.65 deg) area around the center of
error box with limiting magnitude about 16.0. We stopped the data
processing after receiving cancellation report from HETE, but after
receiving GCN2383
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  we made the data reduction of 2 images (the 1st and the
best). There was no OT detected up to 13.5, 43 minutes after GRB time in a
1 degree circular error box. There was no OT detected up to 16.0, 2h41m
after GRB time in the same error box.

Reduced FITS images (dark,bias substracted, flat normalized) are available at
http://www.sai.msu.su/~aleks/observ/

These are our first results with new large CCD, so we still have no pipeline
to reduct them. But if anybody likes to process these data (about 7
Gigabytes including calibration frames) we can provide an access to them.
Submit your requests to lipunov@sai.msu.ru

This message may be cited.

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Alain Klotz, Michel Boer (CESR/CNRS/UPS) and Jean-Luc Atteia (LAT/OMP/UPS),
on behalf of the TAROT team report:

 

Following the GCN notices about GRB 030913, and GCNC #2383, The automated
TAROT telescope took several images of the possible location of the source
of GRB 030913. The images were taken between 20:33 and 20:44 UT on Sept.,
13, 2003. No new object is present on the 2 deg. x 2deg. image centered on
the GCN notice positon. The Moon is relatively close to the source position
(72deg.), hence the limit we could obtain on the possible source magnitude
is only R = 17.2 

 

 

This message is citable.

 

 


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<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><font size=3D2 =
face=3D"Courier New"><span
lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Alain =
Klotz, Michel
Boer (CESR/CNRS/UPS) and Jean-Luc Atteia (LAT/OMP/UPS), on behalf of the =
TAROT
team report:</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><font size=3D2 =
face=3D"Courier New"><span
lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier =
New"'>&nbsp;</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><font size=3D2 =
face=3D"Courier New"><span
lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier =
New"'>Following the GCN
notices about GRB 030913, and GCNC #2383, The automated TAROT telescope =
took
several images of the possible location of the source of GRB 030913. The =
images
were taken between </span></font><font size=3D2 face=3D"Courier =
New"><span
 lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier =
New"'>20:33</span></font><font
size=3D2 face=3D"Courier New"><span lang=3DEN-GB =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New"'> and </span></font><font size=3D2 face=3D"Courier =
New"><span
 lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>20:44 =
UT</span></font><font
size=3D2 face=3D"Courier New"><span lang=3DEN-GB =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New"'> on </span></font><font size=3D2 face=3D"Courier =
New"><span
 lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier =
New"'>Sept., 13, 2003</span></font><font
size=3D2 face=3D"Courier New"><span lang=3DEN-GB =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New"'>. No new object is present on the 2 deg. x 2deg. image =
centered
on the GCN notice positon. The Moon is relatively close to the source =
position
(72deg.), hence the limit we could obtain on the possible source =
magnitude is
only R =3D 17.2 </span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><font size=3D2 =
face=3D"Courier New"><span
lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier =
New"'>&nbsp;</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><font size=3D2 =
face=3D"Courier New"><span
lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier =
New"'>&nbsp;</span></font></p>

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face=3D"Courier New"><span
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>This message is =
citable.</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D2 face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>&nbsp;</span></font></p>

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style=3D'font-size:
12.0pt'>&nbsp;</span></font></p>

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GRB030913 (=H2849): Confirmation of the Flight Localization

T. Donaghy, M. Suzuki, C. Graziani, D. Lamb, G. Ricker, N. Kawai, and S. Woosley on 
behalf of the HETE Science Team;

G. Prigozhin, J. Doty, A. Dullighan, N. Butler, J. Villasenor,
G. Crew, R. Vanderspek, T. Cline, J.G. Jernigan, G. Azzibrouck,
J. Braga, R. Manchanda, and G. Pizzichini, on behalf of the HETE
Operations and HETE Optical-SXC Teams;

Y. Shirasaki, M. Matsuoka, T. Tamagawa, T. Sakamoto, A. Yoshida,
K. Torii, Y. Nakagawa, D. Takahashi, R. Satoh, Y. Urata, E. Fenimore,
M. Galassi, on behalf of the HETE WXM Team;

J-L Atteia, C. Barraud, M. Boer, J-F Olive, J-P Dezalay, and K. Hurley
on behalf of the HETE FREGATE Team;

After extensive ground analysis of the WXM data for GRB030913 (=H2849),
we have succeeded in localizing this burst.  The WXM localization based
on ground analysis can be expressed as a 90% confidence circle that is
12 arcminutes in radius and is centered at

  WXM-Ground:   RA = +20h 58m 07.4s, Dec = -02d 21' 54" (J2000).

GRB030913 was too faint to be localized by the SXC.

The WXM ground localization confirms the flight localization reported 
in a GCN Position Notice on 2003 13 Sep at 17:07:35 UT, 37 sec after 
the burst and in GCN Circular 2383
Loading...
 
 .

Therefore, if you observed the flight localization of GRB030913, we
strongly encourage you to examine your observations for the optical
afterglow or to set limits on the brightness of any optical afterglow.

Further information for GRB030913, including a light curve and a sky map, 
is provided at the following URL:

  http://space.mit.edu/HETE/Bursts/GRB030913

This message may be cited.

[GCN OPS NOTE (18sep03):  C.Graziani was added to the author list.]

GRB 030913, BOOTES observations
-------------------------------

Antonio de Ugarte, IAA-CSIC (Granada)
Petr Kubanek and Martin Jelinek, ASU (Ondrejov)
Tomas de J. Mateo Sanguino, CEDEA-INTA (Huelva)
Rene Hudec, ASU (Ondrejov)
Tom�s Soria, EELM-CSIC (M�laga)
Sergei Guziy and Alberto Castro-Tirado, IAA-CSIC              
on behalf of the BOOTES Team


report:

"Several images of the HETE-II error box for the GRB
030913 (Suzuki et al., GCNC 2383) were obtained right
after the sunset as the automatic response to the GRB
alert by the BOOTES-2 instruments in Southern Spain.
Images were acquired by both the wide-field CCD (35
x 35 deg FOV) and the narrow-field CCD attached to the
0.3-m telescope (30' FOV) starting on Sep 13.797 UT
(2-h after the event). Limiting magnitudes of the co-
added images for the following 10-min are 12 (I-band)
and 17.5 (unfiltered), which cover 100% and 70% of the
refined HETE-II error box (Donaghy et al. GCNC 2388)
respectively. None of them reveals any new (or strongly
variable) source, in agreement with the results obtained
by Torii (GCNC 2381), Lipunov et al. (GCNC 2385) and
Klotz et al. (GCNC 2386). This is the first event followed
up at the BOOTES-2 station. Images are posted at 
http://laeff.inta.es/BOOTES/ing/results/grb030913.htm".

This message is quotable.

Arto Oksanen, Arne Henden, Cristovao Jacques, Andrea Tasselli, 
Odd Trondal, Michel Bonnardeau and Bruce Gary report on 
behalf of the AAVSO International High Energy Network:

We have observed the GRB030913 (=H2849) error circle starting 
September 13, 2003 18:56 UT, less than 2 hours from the burst. 
The revised error circle (Donaghy et al., GCN 2388
Loading...
 
 ), was covered 
completly by several observers.  

The earlier larger error circle (M. Suzuki et al., GCN 2383
Loading...
 
 ) was 
covered by 90 percent in 7.9 hours.
 
All images vere visually checked and most images were also checked 
by software against USNOA2.0 and USNOB1.0 catalogs to detect any 
optical transients. 

No new objects were found to the image limits. At 2.85 hrs after 
the burst, no afterglow was detected to R=18 (defined by images 
marked with stars on the following summary).

Summary of all observations:

                    total    image center   limiting  from
    mid UT        exposure  RA (J200.0) DEC  mag (R) burst(h) obs
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2003-09-13T18:56    20x10s  20 58 11 -02 17    15.5   1.83    OT 
2003-09-13T19:13     6x60s  20 58 38 -01 57    18.0   2.10    AO *
2003-09-13T19:21     6x60s  20 57 15 -02 00    18.0   2.23    AO *
2003-09-13T19:29     6x60s  20 58 44 -02 12    18.0   2.37    AO *
2003-09-13T19:37     6x60s  20 57 23 -02 14    18.0   2.50    AO *
2003-09-13T19:49     6x60s  20 59 01 -02 20    18.0   2.70    AO *
2003-09-13T19:58     6x60s  20 57 39 -02 22    18.0   2.85    AO *
2003-09-13T20:53     6x60s  20 58 49 -01 53    17.5   3.77    AO
2003-09-13T21:05     6x60s  20 57 11 -02 00    17.5   3.97    AO
2003-09-13T21:15     6x60s  20 58 45 -02 12    17.5   4.13    AO
2003-09-13T21:23     6x60s  20 57 21 -02 14    17.0   4.27    AO
2003-09-13T21:30    42x60s  20 57 49 -02 22    18.0   4.39    AT 
2003-09-13T21:31     6x60s  20 58 51 -02 26    17.5   4.40    AO
2003-09-13T21:39     6x60s  20 57 26 -02 29    17.5   4.53    AO
2003-09-13T22:26    10x45s  20 57 50 -02 14    18.0   5.32    CJ 
2003-09-13T22:38    10x45s  20 57 49 -01 59    18.0   5.52    CJ
2003-09-13T22:50    10x45s  20 57 55 -02 32    18.0   5.72    CJ
2003-09-13T23:38     6x45s  20 56 32 -02 17    17.5   6.52    CJ
2003-09-13T23:50     4x45s  20 56 29 -02 01    17.5   6.43    CJ
2003-09-14T00:24     4x45s  20 59 14 -02 14    17.5   7.28    CJ
2003-09-16T02:40    18x60s  20 58 02 -02 12    20.3  57.53    BG
2003-09-17T03:55    8x900s  20 58 06 -02 35    22.7  82.82    AH
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Observer details:

AO: Arto Oksanen, Finland
    FOV: 24 x 16 arc min 
    Equipment: 0.40m SCT f/5.0, ST8XE CCD, Rc-filter

OT: Odd Trondal, Norway
    FOV: 20 x 15 arc min
    Equipment: 0.25 m f5.75, MX916 CCD, R-filter

CJ: Cristovao Jacques, Brazil
    FOV: 25 x 17 arc min 
    Equipment: 0.30m SCT f/3.0 , ST7E CCD, unfiltered

BG: Bruce Gary, Arizona, U.S.A.
    FOV: 23 x 15 arc min
    Equipment: 0.35 m SCT, AO-7 stabilizer, ST-8XE CCD, unfiltered 

AT: Andrea Tasselli, UK
    FOV: 16 x 22 arc min
    Equipment: 0.15 m Maksutov Cassegrain f/7, MX716 CCD

AH: Arne Henden, Arizona, U.S.A.
    FOV: 11 x 11 arcmin
    Equipment: 1.0m, CCD, R-filter


The AAVSO International High Energy network is grateful for a 
generous grant from the Curry Foundation and to NASA for the 
financial support for the High Energy Workshops for Amateur 
Astronomers.

GRB 030913, possible optical counterpart
----------------------------------------

S. Guziy, A. de Ugarte Postigo, 
A.J. Castro-Tirado, J.Gorosabel (IAA-CSIC/STScI), 
P. Amado, Antonio Herrería (IAA-CSIC),
Pilar Ruiz-Lapuente (Univ. Barcelona), 
Javier Méndez (ING, La Palma),
J. M. Castro Cerón (STScI),
and A. Zurita (ING, La Palma)

report:

"On Sep 18.04 UT (4.25 days after the burst) we imaged 80% 
of the HETE-II error box for GRB 030913 (Suzuki et al., 
GCNC 2383) with WHT at La Palma trough Johnson V filter. 
We detected an uncatalogued point like source of 
20.9 +/- 0.1 at the following coordinates +/- 2":
  RA(J2000) = 20:58:46.5
  DEC(J2000)= -02:20:59
On Sept 19.87 UT we imaged again the same field from the 1.5m
telescope at Sierra Nevada Observatory (OSN, Granada) and
detected an object at V mag = 23.6 +/- 0.5 on an equivalent
position.
Images of the field are posted on:
http://www.iaa.es/~deugarte/GRBs/GRB030913/
Further images in R and B bands have been obtained that 
confirm the detection. Other observations are encouraged 
to confirm the relation of this object with GRB030913"

This message may be quoted.

A. Henden (USRA/USNO) and A. Oksanen (Nyrola Obs.) report
on behalf of the AAVSO International High Energy Network:

We have examined the early-time R-band images from Nyrola
Observatory near the location of the proposed optical
transient of Guziy et al. (GCN 2391
Loading...
 
 ).  A stack of the
f5.fit and f5b.fit composite images, giving an effective
mid-exposure time of t_0 + 3.5hrs, does not convincingly
show any object at the position shown in the Guziy et al.
finding chart.  A jpeg copy of the stack can be found at
http://nyrola.jklsirius.fi/grb/grb030913/f5f5b.jpg
Based on nearby USNO-B stars, we can place a limiting
magnitude of R=19.5 for any object at this location.
Combined with the V=20.9 at t_0 + 4.25day measure of
Guziy et al., this would give an unrealistic decay slope
for a typical GRB.  Either this object is unrelated to the
afterglow, or the afterglow increased in brightness after 4hrs.

The AAVSO International High Energy network is grateful for a
generous grant from the Curry Foundation and to NASA for the
financial support for the High Energy Workshops for Amateur
Astronomers.

V. Lipunov, A. Krylov, V. Kornilov, G. Borisov, D. Kuvshinov, A. Belinski,
I. Chilingarian, M. Kuznetsov, S. Potanin, V. Vitrischak, G. Antipov
Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Alexsandr Krylov Observatory, Moscow

report:


We have observed the error box of GRB030913 (Suzuki et al.,
GCNC 2383) with MASTER system (GCN 2385
Loading...
 
 , http://observ.pereplet.ru)
equipped with new AP16E CCD during the first night after the GRB. 25
frames, obtained during first 4 hours after the burst, were combined to
achieve the better magnitude limit (the first image was obtained 43
minutes after GRB time).

No new sources were detected up to 17.5 unfiltered instrumental magnitude
with S/N ratio of 3.

The part of processed frame is available at
http://observ.pereplet.ru/images/grb030913OT.gif. North is up, east is
left.

Position of possible OT, reported by Guziy et al. (GCN 2391
Loading...
 
 ) is marked on
the image. No source brighter than 17.5 is seen there.

This message is citable.

E. S. Rykoff and D. A. Smith, on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration report:

"The ROTSE-3c telescope at the H.E.S.S. site at Farm Goellschau, Namibia,
responded automatically to HETE-2 alert 2849 (GRB 030913) on 13 September, and
started taking images during early twilight within 7 s of the GCN notice
distribution.  Our first image with sky background low enough to perform
photometric and astrometric calibration was taken at 17:38:14.11 UTC, 31
minutes after the burst, with observations continuing for another hour.  All
exposures were 60-s in duration. Initial analysis of the revised 12' error box
reported by Donaghy, et. al (GCN 2388
Loading...
 
 ) revealed no new sources not present on
the Digitized Sky Survey POSS2 red plate, and no sources that varied
significantly over the duration of our observations, to an unfiltered limiting
magnitude of 17.0 mag.

Co-adding our first set of ten usable images reveals no sources not present in
the DSS to an unfiltered limiting magnitude of 19.2 mag.  In particular, the
proposed optical counterpart reported by Guziy et al. (GCN 2391
Loading...
 
 ) is not evident
at t_0 + 36 min to this limiting magnitude."

G. Kosugi, H. Furusawa, Y. Komiyama, K. Sekiguchi, M. Iye,
and N. Kawai on behalf of the Subaru GRB team report:

We have observed the afterglow candidate of GRB 030913
(=H2849: GCN 2383
Loading...
 
 , 2388
Loading...
 
 ) with the Subaru 8.2m telescope
atop Mauna Kea on 2003 September 22.4 UT (9 days after
the burst).  A 600 sec V-band imaging observation was
taken place with SuprimeCam (FOV: 24'x30') centered at
the OT candidate reported by Guziy et al (GCN 2391
Loading...
 
 ).
A galaxy (V = 23.0 +/- 0.2) was detected at the position
of the OT candidate.  We also detected a point-like
source (V = 25.2 +/- 0.3) at about 1.5 arcsec north from
the galaxy.

Images of the field center are posted on:
http://www.naoj.org/staff/george/Distribute/GRB030913/GRB030913.html

This message may be cited.