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GRB 050502A, GRB 050502

GCN Circular 3374

Subject
GRB 050502a: Swift XRT Upper Limit
Date
2005-05-06T20:50:21Z (21 years ago)
From
Cheryl Pauline Hurkett at Leicester U <cph9@star.le.ac.uk>
C. Hurkett, K.Page, J. P. Osborne (U Leicester), B. Zhang (UNLV), J.
Kennea, D. N. Burrows (PSU) and N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC) report on behalf of
the Swift XRT team:

  The Swift XRT observed the INTEGRAL burst GRB 050502a for ~2.5ks from
13:17 UT to 18:42 UT on 02 May 2005; for ~2.5 ks from 15:00 UT to 20:01 UT
on 03 May 2005 and for ~43 ks from 00:28 on 04 May 2005 to 23:10 on 05 May
2005.

  In the first observation (02 May 2005) we detect no source in a 20
arcsec radius circle centred at the position of the optical counterpart
identified by Yost et al 2005 (GCN 3322), with a 90% confidence upper
limit of 1.03e-3 counts/s (0.2 - 10.0 keV).

  Combining data from all three observations, we obtain 35.5 ks of good
data after normal data screening.  We still detect no source in a 20 arcsec
radius circle centred at this position, with a 90% confidence upper limit
of 1.8e-4 counts/s (0.2 - 10.0 keV). Assuming a Crab-like spectrum, this
corresponds to 7e-15 ergs/cm2/s (0.5 - 10.0 keV).

  Compared to other Swift XRT afterglows, GRB 050502a is unusually faint
at these times.

GCN Circular 3363

Subject
GRB 050502a: Optical Observations
Date
2005-05-06T01:03:13Z (21 years ago)
From
Nestor Mirabal at U Michigan <mirabal@umich.edu>
N. Mirabal (U. Michigan), M. Boettcher, J. Shields, M. Joshi (Ohio U.),
and J. P. Halpern (Columbia U.) report on behalf of the MDM GRB follow-up
team:

"We monitored the optical afterglow (Yost et al., GCN #3322) of GRB
050502a with the MDM 1.3m telescope beginning on 2005 May 2.163 UT and
spanning from 1.8 hr to 8.2 hr after the burst. Preliminary photometry
referenced to a USNO-B1.0 star at (J2000) R.A. 13:29:59.84, Decl.
+42:43:00.2 listed as R = 16.01, indicates that the OT faded from 
approximately R~19.3 on May 2.163 to R~21.4 on May 2.36, and continued to 
decline until the end of the monitoring period.  The corresponding 
power-law decay index is -1.44 +/- 0.2. This is steeper than the decay 
index of -1.03 estimated from the earlier observations of Yost et al. 
(GCN #3322)."

GCN Circular 3356

Subject
GRB050502: P200 Observations (Correction)
Date
2005-05-05T00:39:15Z (21 years ago)
From
S. Bradley Cenko at Caltech <cenko@srl.caltech.edu>
S. Bradley Cenko, Derek B. Fox, and P. Brian Cameron report on behalf of
the Caltech-NRAO-Carnegie GRB Collaboration:

We have imaged the field of GRB050502 (GCN 3323) with the Large Format
Camera (LFC) mounted on the Palomar 5-m Hale Telescope.  Observations
consisted of 2 x 600 s exposures in the Sloan r' filter.  At a mean
epoch of ~ 11:30 3 May UT (33.3 hours after the burst), we find no
emission at the afterglow position reported by Yost et al. (GCN 3322).
OUr 3-sigma limiting magnitude, calculated by comparison with several
Guide Star Catalog sources in the field, is approximately r' > 23.5

GCN Circular 3355

Subject
GRB050502: P200 Observations
Date
2005-05-05T00:14:01Z (21 years ago)
From
S. Bradley Cenko at Caltech <cenko@srl.caltech.edu>
S. Bradley Cenko, Derek B. Fox, and P. Brian Cameron report on behalf of
the Caltech-NRAO-Carnegie GRB Collaboration:

We have imaged the field of GRB050502 (GCN 3323) with the Large Format
Camera (LFC) mounted on the Palomar 5-m Hale Telescope.  Observations
consisted of 2 x 600 s exposures in the Sloan r' filter.  At a mean
epoch of ~ 11:30 4 May 2005 UT (57.3 hours after the burst), we find no
emission at the afterglow position reported by Yost et al. (GCN 3322).
Our 3-sigma limiting magnitude, calculated by comparison with several
Guide Star Catalog sources in the field, is approximately r' > 23.5.

GCN Circular 3345

Subject
GRB050502a: P60 Observations (Correction)
Date
2005-05-03T21:37:41Z (21 years ago)
From
S. Bradley Cenko at Caltech <cenko@srl.caltech.edu>
S. Bradley Cenko and Derek B. Fox report on behalf of the Caltech-NRAO-
Carnegie GRB Collaboration:

We have imaged the field of GRB050502a (GCN 3323) with the automated
Palomar 60-inch Telescope.  Observations consisted of 30 x 120 s
exposures in the Kron R band, taken at a mean epoch of 9:30 May 3 UT (~
30.3 hours after the burst).  We detect no emission at the location of
the afterglow reported by Yost et. al. (GCN 3322).  Our limiting
magnitude, estimated by comparison with several Guide Star Catalog
sources in the field, is approximately R > 21.5.

GCN Circular 3344

Subject
GRB050502a: P60 Observations
Date
2005-05-03T21:02:27Z (21 years ago)
From
S. Bradley Cenko at Caltech <cenko@srl.caltech.edu>
S. Bradley Cenko and Derek B. Fox report on behalf of the Caltech-NRAO-
Carnegie GRB Collaboration:

We have imaged the field of GRB050502a (GCN 3323) with the automated
Palomar 60-inch Telescope.  Observations consisted of 30 x 120 s
exposures in the Kron R band.  We detect no emission at the position of
the afterglow reported by Yost et. al. (GCN 3322).  Our 3-sigma limiting
magnitude, estimated by comparison with several Guide Star Catalog
sources in the field, is approximately R > 21.5.

GCN Circular 3342

Subject
GRB 050502a: RBO Observations
Date
2005-05-03T15:03:37Z (21 years ago)
From
Melissa Nysewander at UNC,Chapel Hill <mnysewan@physics.unc.edu>
D. Allen, J. Silvey and R. Canterna report on behalf of the RBO Team of the
FUN GRB Collaboration:

We observed the position of the afterglow of GRB 050502a (Yost et al., GCN
3322; Gotz et al., GCN 3323) with the Red Buttes Observatory 24-inch
telescope under high humidity and non photometric conditions.

We do not detect the afterglow down to the following values:
UT      Start Time      Filter          Limiting
        Since GRB (hr)                  Magnitude
08:04   5.83            R               19.1
09:08   6.90            R               20.1
09:19   7.08            I               18.3
10:40   8.43            I               19.0

10-sigma limiting magnitudes were derived from the USNO-B1.0 catalogue.

GCN Circular 3341

Subject
GRB 050502A: WSRT Radio Observations
Date
2005-05-03T12:36:59Z (21 years ago)
From
Alexander van der Horst at U of Amsterdam <avdhorst@science.uva.nl>
A.J. van der Horst, R.A.M.J. Wijers and K. Wiersema (University of
Amsterdam) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:

"We observed the position of the GRB 050502A afterglow at 1.4 and 4.9 GHz
with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope at May 2 16.33 UT to May 3
4.31 UT, i.e. 14.10 - 26.08 hours after the burst (GCN 3323).
We do not detect a radio source at the position of the optical afterglow
(GCN 3322). The formal flux measurements for a point source at the
location of the optical afterglow is 0 +/- 28 microJy at 1.4 GHz, and -69
+/- 29 microJy at 4.9 GHz."

This message may be cited.

GCN Circular 3340

Subject
GRB050502A: Optical Observations
Date
2005-05-03T02:42:36Z (21 years ago)
From
Aaron Price at AAVSO <aaronp@aavso.org>
D.T. Durig (Cordell-Lorenz Observatory - The University of The South) reports on
behalf of the AAVSO International High Energy Network on optical observations of
GRB050502A (GCN #3323, Gotz et al.):

Durig reports the following rapidly fading behavior:

Date (UT) Mag
02.17880  19.8   
02.18243  20.8   
02.18606  20.3   
02.18969  20.4   
02.19331  20.5   
02.19694  20.9   
02.20056  21.4   
02.20418  21.4   
02.20781  21.0   
02.21144  21.3   

Observations were made unfiltered based on a V zeropoint. Uncertainly is +/- 0.4
magnitudes. Details of the observation are below along with a link to the co-added 
FITS image.

Full Observation Details
Name: Dr. Douglas T. Durig
email: ddurig@sewanee.edu
Observer: D. T. Durig ( CLW01)
Site: Cordell-Lorenz Observatory
Location: Sewanee, TN, USA
LatitudeLongitude: 35 12 N 85 55 W
Elevation: 600 m
Scope: SCT 0.30 m
ScopeFocalRatio: f/5.8     1766 mm FL
CCDVendor: SBIG ST1001E
CCDDetector: KAF1001E
CCDSize: 1024x1024
CCDPixelScale: 2.8 arc sec/ pixel
CCDFOV: 48x48 full, 12x12 cropped submitted
Object: GRB050502
ObsDate: 2005 05 02
ObsMidPointTime: 2.15912 (04 40 58 UT )
TimePerFrame: 300 sec
NumberOfFrames: 11
Filters: CV
Processing: dark, flat, registered, added, quarter frame cropped
Seeing: 4 to 5 arc sec
LimitingMag (SNR=3): 21.0 ???
Sky: very clear
afterglowmag: 20 fading to 21 during first hour
afterglowerr: 0.4
compstars: 900 USNO B1.0 stars
Report: I could see the afterglow candidate in my first few images but it was 
fading fast and I had to stack to see it well in later images.

Ave Position:13 29 46.28 +42 40 27.7

I get the following magnitudes for co-added (10min) frames:

02.17880  19.8   CV
02.18243  20.8   CV
02.18606  20.3   CV
02.18969  20.4   CV
02.19331  20.5   CV
02.19694  20.9   CV
02.20056  21.4   CV
02.20418  21.4   CV
02.20781  21.0   CV
02.21144  21.3   CV

A FITS image has been uploaded to 
ftp://ftp.aavso.org/grb/Dr.DouglasT.Durig_GRB050502_2453492.77287_.fits

The AAVSO thanks the Curry Foundation for their continued support of the 
AAVSO International High Energy Network.

GCN Circular 3335

Subject
GRB 050502a : R band observation at Lulin observatory
Date
2005-05-02T16:49:12Z (21 years ago)
From
Yuji Urata at RIKEN <urata@crab.riken.go.jp>
K. Sanchawala, W.L. Wu, K.Y. Huang, W.H. Ip(NCU),
Y. Qiu, W. Zhou (BAO), Y.Q. Lou (THCA), Y. Urata (RIKEN), 
on behalf of EAFON report:

" We have observed the position of GRB 050502a optical afterglow (Yost
et al. GCN 3322) using 1-m telescope at Lulin Observatory,
Taiwan. Under unstable weather condition, single R band image was
taken at 15.59 UT (~ 13.37 hours after the burst). The limiting
magnitude is R~ 21 compared with USNO-B1.0 stars. No source was
detected down to the limiting magnitude at the position.

This message may be cited."

GCN Circular 3332

Subject
GRB 050502A: Redshift measurement based on Keck HIRES Observations
Date
2005-05-02T12:37:32Z (21 years ago)
From
Hsiao-Wen Chen at MIT/CSR <hchen@space.mit.edu>
Jason X. Prochaska (UCO/Lick Obs.), Sara Ellison (U. Victoria), 
R. J. Foley (UCB), J. S. Bloom (UCB), & H.-W. Chen (MIT) report on behalf 
of the GRAASP collaboration:

"We observed the afterglow of GRB 050502a for 3600s with HIRES on the KeckI     
telescope starting at UT 05:53:46 on May 02, 2005, 3.5 hours after the initial  
burst.  We obtained a low SNR, high resolution spectrum (R~40000).  We report  
a tentative redshift of z=3.793 based on the following lines of evidence:
 
1.  We detect a prominent flux discontinuity at 4400 Ang, blueward of which no  
flux is present.  We interpret the flux decrement at 4400 A as the Lyman 
limit absorption produced by the host of the GRB. 
 
2.  The flux blueward of ~5870 Ang is 'patchy', i.e. indicative of the Lya 
forest.  A broad absorption feature is present at 5820 Ang, which we 
interpret as the Lya absorption due to the ISM of the host galaxy.
 
3.  We identify a strong absorption feature at 6040 Ang, which is consistent
with SiII1260 at z=3.793.

Further analysis is underway.
 
This message can be cited."

GCN Circular 3329

Subject
GRB 050502: INTEGRAL results
Date
2005-05-02T10:19:06Z (21 years ago)
From
Sandro Mereghetti at IASF/CNR <sandro@mi.iasf.cnr.it>
D. Gotz and S. Mereghetti (IASF Milano) on behalf of the IBAS Localization 
Team report:

Further analysis of the IBIS/ISGRI data for GRB 050502 (GCN Circ. n. 3323) 
indicates that the peak flux is 1.8 photons (2.E-07 ergs)/cmsq/s (1 s 
integration time) and the fluence is 14.7 photons (1.4E-6 ergs)/cmsq (21 s 
integration time). Both values refer to the 20-200 keV energy range.

A plot of the light curve can be found at:

http://ibas.mi.iasf.cnr.it/IBAS_Results.html

Note that the data before 02:13:56 UT are missing in the plot because the 
satellite was performing a slew and that the short gap at 02:14:10 UT is 
due to satellite telemetry saturation.

This message can be cited.

GCN Circular 3328

Subject
GRB050502: ANU 1m optical Observations
Date
2005-05-02T10:04:50Z (21 years ago)
From
Brian Schmidt at RSAA, ANU (MSSSO) <brian@mso.anu.edu.au>
Josh Rich, Brian  Schmidt (Australian National University) and Jessie 
Christiansen (UNSW)  report on behalf of a larger collaboration:

"We observed a 5' region covering the BAT position of  the SWIFT burst 
GRB 050502B(GCN#3237)
using the ANU 1m telescope on May 2.40 UT in V band.  Preliminary 
comparison with the DSS shows no OT to V=18.
Further observations are continuing."

GCN Circular 3327

Subject
GRB 050502: Confirmed variability of the afterglow candidate +
Date
2005-05-02T07:11:15Z (21 years ago)
From
Josh Bloom at Harvard/CFA <jbloom@cfa.harvard.edu>
C. Blake (Harvard) and J. S. Bloom (UCB) report:

PAIRITEL has continued to image the Yost et al. optical candidate
afterglow (GCN #3322). We confirm that the IR source (#3326) initially
faded, strongly confirming the hypothesis from Yost et al. In
particular, from T+47min to T+94 min the source faded by ~1.1 mag in
J. But from T+94 min to T+121 min, there is some evidence for
brightening by ~0.1 mag in J-band. A similar result is found in H and
Ks.

Based on an astrometric tie of 2MASS to a 141 sec J-band image from
(start) 2005-05-02 02:52:40 UT, we find

  IRT:  RA = 13:29:46.33, Dec = 42:40:27.3    --Offset to IRT--
  A :   RA = 13:29:42.78, Dec = 42:40:49.2  21.83"   S, 39.19" E
  B:    RA = 13:29:44.23, Dec = 42:38:13.1  134.20"  N, 23.21" E

The uncertainty in the absolute WCS is ~0.5 arcsec.  Sources A and B are
nearby bright sources suitable for blind offset spectroscopy."

GCN Circular 3326

Subject
GRB 050502: PAIRITEL IR Observations
Date
2005-05-02T03:57:18Z (21 years ago)
From
Josh Bloom at Harvard/CFA <jbloom@cfa.harvard.edu>
J.S. Bloom (UCB) and C. Blake (Harvard) report on behalf of a larger
collaboration:

"The PAIRITEL 1.3m telescope began observations of GRB 050502 (GCN 3323)
during twilight, approximately 31 minutes after the burst. We confirm a
bright point source in our J,H,K images coincident with the location
reported by Yost et al. (GCN 3322). This source is below the 2MASS
detection limit. Observations and analysis are continuing."

GCN Circular 3325

Subject
GRB050502 - Correction on the Optical Candidate from the Liverpool
Date
2005-05-02T03:43:01Z (21 years ago)
From
Andreja Gomboc at LT,ARI,Liverpool JMU <ag@astro.livjm.ac.uk>
A. Gomboc, I. A. Steele, A. Monfardini, C. J. Mottram, C. Guidorzi,
M.F. Bode, C.G. Mundell (Liverpool JMU) report:

Due to a typing error, we need to correct the position of the transient of
the GRB 050502 to be:
 
RA 13:29:46.25
dec +42:40:27.50.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

GCN Circular 3324

Subject
GRB050502 - Optical Candidate from the Liverpool Telescope
Date
2005-05-02T03:27:49Z (21 years ago)
From
Andreja Gomboc at LT,ARI,Liverpool JMU <ag@astro.livjm.ac.uk>
A. Gomboc, I. A. Steele, A. Monfardini, C. J. Mottram, C. Guidorzi,
M.F. Bode, C.G. Mundell (Liverpool JMU) report:

The automatic pipeline of the Liverpool Telescope detected an optical
transient at 
RA 13:39:46.25
dec +42:40:27.50.
We measure the approximate magnitude r'~15.6 at ~3 min after the burst.

GCN Circular 3323

Subject
GRB 050502 - A long GRB detected with INTEGRAL
Date
2005-05-02T03:10:02Z (21 years ago)
From
Diego Gotz at IASF-CNR <diego@mi.iasf.cnr.it>
D. Gotz, S. Mereghetti (IASF, Milano), N. Mowlavi, S. Shaw, M. Beck
(ISDC, Versoix) and J. Borkowski (CAMK, Torun) on behalf of the IBAS
Localization Team report:

A 20 s long GRB has been detected by IBAS in IBIS/ISGRI data at 02:13:57 
UT on May 2. Being at the beginning of a pointing the GRB may last longer. 
Its coordinates (J2000) are:

RA:  202.4392 [degrees]
DEC: +42.6741 [degrees]

with an uncertainty of 2.0 arcmin (90% c.l. radius).

Its preliminary peak flux (20-200 keV, 1s integration time) is about 1.3 
ph (1E-07 erg)/cmsq/s.

This message can be cited.

GCN Circular 3322

Subject
GRB 050502: ROTSE-III Detection of Possible Counterpart
Date
2005-05-02T02:55:44Z (21 years ago)
From
Sarah Yost at U.Michigan <sayost@umich.edu>
S.A. Yost, H. Swan (U Mich), B. A. Schaefer (Louisiana State), K. Alatalo
(U Mich) report  on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration:

ROTSE-IIIb, located at McDonald Observatory, Texas, responsed to GRB
050502 (Integral trigger 2484) 23.3 s after the burst (5.0s after the GCN
notice time), in conditions of variable clouds across the field. The
unfiltered images are calibrated relative to USNO A2.0. Despite the
changes in limiting magnitude due to the clouds, we see a 14.3rd
magnitude, definitely fading source at:

	13:29:46.3 +42:40:27.7 (J2000)

The source is not visible in DSS (2nd epoch), 2MASS, or the MPChecker
database. It is at ~14.3 mag, around 23.3 s after the burst in an image
with a limiting magnitude of approximately 14.9. It is presently at ~
18.5th mag, ~ 1000 sec post-burst.

Continuing observations are in progress.

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