GRB 060801
GCN Circular 5773
Subject
GRB 060801: Swift/XRT Astrometry Correction
Date
2006-10-30T16:30:13Z (19 years ago)
From
Judith Racusin at PSU <racusin@astro.psu.edu>
J. L. Racusin, D. N. Burrows (PSU), and N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC) report on
behalf of the Swift XRT team:
We have re-analyzed the full XRT data set of the short hard GRB 060801.
XRT observed the field of GRB 060801 for a total of 75 ks between August 1
and August 5, 2006 in Photon Counting mode in order to obtain a more
accurate position of the short-lived X-ray afterglow.
In the full data set we find 23 serendipitous X-ray sources detected with
the XIMAGE detect algorithm with S/N > 3, 12 of which have near-by optical
counterparts in the SDSS. We match these sources to obtain a best fit
mean frame shift, carefully accounting for several instrumental factors
described below.
At the time of these observations there was a problem with the bias maps
that caused spurious hot pixels to remain in the cleaned event lists after
standard processing. To remove this contamination, we filtered out events
with energies < 0.4 keV. For more information on the bias map issue, see
http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrtdigest.shtml.
We also apply an exposure map correction to the images before input into
XRTCENTROID to account for any sources landing on or near the bad columns
in the XRT CCD. In the first orbit, the GRB did in fact lie on one of
these columns. We use XRTCENTROID to calculate the positions of the GRB
and the serendipitous sources.
Additional position error arises from the Swift star tracker solution
uncertainty. This error is small once the spacecraft has completely
settled after a slew, but is not achieved until ~100s after the XRT
observations begin. Therefore, we exclude the first 100s of each orbit,
reducing the total used exposure used time to 69 ks.
We calculate the statistical position errors using the empirical fits as
described in Moretti et al. (2006, A&A, 448, L9), assuming that the
astrometric correction removes the 3.5" systematic error normally applied
to XRT positions to account for errors in the star tracker attitude
solution.
The result of this analysis leads to a mean frame shift from the
previously reported position (Racusin et al., GCN 5382), of:
dRA: -3.60" dDec: -0.90" +/- 0.64"
and a new XRT refined position of:
RA(J2000): 14h 12m 01.31s
Dec(J2000): +16d 58' 54.0"
with an estimated uncertainty of 2.1 arcseconds (90% containment).
This position is 4.2 arcseconds from the refined XRT position given in
Racusin et al. (GCN 5382), 1.9 arcseconds from the boresight corrected XRT
position using the new TELDEF described by Burrows et al. (GCN 5750), and
0.5 arcseconds from the frame shifted position given in Butler et al. (GCN
5389) based upon only the first 25 ks of data. Potential host galaxies B
& D from Castro-Tirado et al. and Piranomonte et al. (GCNs 5384 & 5386)
both lie inside the new XRT refined error circle. A figure comparing all
of these positions is available at:
http://www.swift.psu.edu/images/grb060801_astrometry.gif
Galaxy B has a redshift of 1.131 as given by Cucchiara et al. (GCN 5460).
We encourage observations of galaxy D to obtain its redshift.
This Circular is an official product of the Swift XRT team.
GCN Circular 5470
Subject
GRB060801: host galaxy redshift
Date
2006-08-22T22:32:30Z (19 years ago)
From
Antonino Cucchiara at PSU <cucchiara@astro.psu.edu>
A. Cucchiara (PSU), D. B. Fox (PSU), E. Berger (OCIW) and P. A. Price
(IfA,UH) report:
Starting at August, 22nd at 06:05:49 UT, we obtained 2x900 sec spectra
of the
candidate host galaxy of GRB 060801 (extended source B in GCN5389) using
Gemini North observatory and GMOS spectrograph with 1 arcsec slit and
R400 grating.
We detect a bright emission line at 7942A, with no other apparent
features. Identifying this line as [OII] at 3727A yields a redshift of
z = 1.131 for this galaxy. At this redshift, the observed fluence of
8.1e-8 erg/cm2
(GCN 5381) corresponds to an isotropic-equivalent energy of 2.7e50 erg.
We thank the staff at Gemini for performing the observations.
[GCN OPS NOTE(15dec06): Per author's request, the Subject-line
was changed from "00801" to "060801".]
GCN Circular 5408
Subject
GRB 060801: Second Epoch WSRT Radio Observations
Date
2006-08-07T09:57:36Z (19 years ago)
From
Alexander van der Horst at U of Amsterdam <avdhorst@science.uva.nl>
A.J. van der Horst (University of Amsterdam) reports on behalf of a larger
collaboration:
"We reobserved the position of the GRB 060801 afterglow at 4.9 GHz with
the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope on Aug 6 from 10.77 to 22.75 UT,
i.e. 4.94 - 5.44 days after the burst (GCN 5378).
We do not detect a radio source within the XRT error circle (GCN 5382) or
the refined XRT/SDSS error circle (GCN 5389). The rms noise in het map
within the XRT error circle is 27 microJy per beam. The formal flux
measurement for a point source at the center of the XRT error circle is 51
+/- 27 microJy."
GCN Circular 5392
Subject
GRB 060801: no variability of optical sources
Date
2006-08-03T15:13:42Z (19 years ago)
From
Daniele Malesani at SISSA-ISAS,Trieste,Italy <malesani@sissa.it>
S. Piranomonte (INAF-OARm), S. Covino (INAF-OABr), D. Malesani
(SISSA/ISAS), G. Tagliaferri (INAF/OABr), G. Chincarini (Univ.
Milano-Bicocca), and L. Stella (INAF-OARm) report on behalf of the
MISTICI collaboration:
We observed again the field of GRB 060801 (Racusin et al., GCN 5378,
5382; Sato et al., GCN5381) with the ESO VLT equipped with the FORS2
instrument. Standard star fields were observed in order to get a
reliable flux calibration. We find a significant mismatch (more than 1
mag) with respect to the USNO calibration. Adopting the naming
introduced by Castro-Tirado et al. (GCN 5384) and Piranomonte et al.
(GCN 5386), we find the following magnitudes for the four sources close
to the XRT position:
A: R = 21.95
B: R = 23.71 (extended)
C: R = 23.90
D: R = 24.62 (extended)
Between the night of Aug 1 (mean time Aug 2.026 UT) and Aug 2 (mean time
Aug 2.991 UT) we find no variability of any of the above sources up to
~0.1 mag.
We acknowledge the excellent support from the ESO staff, in particular
Oliver Hainaut.
This message can be cited.
GCN Circular 5390
Subject
GRB 060801: WSRT Radio Observations
Date
2006-08-03T01:29:48Z (19 years ago)
From
Alexander van der Horst at U of Amsterdam <avdhorst@science.uva.nl>
A.J. van der Horst (University of Amsterdam) reports on behalf of a larger
collaboration:
"We observed the position of the GRB 060801 afterglow at 4.9 GHz with the
Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope on Aug 2 from 11.03 to 23.01 UT, i.e.
0.95 - 1.45 days after the burst (GCN 5378).
We do not detect a radio source within the XRT error circle (GCN 5382) or
the refined XRT/SDSS error circle (GCN 5389), in particular at the
position of the optical sources mentioned in GCN 5384 and GCN 5386