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GRB 091003

GCN Circular 9986

Subject
GRB 091003: Swift XRT analysis
Date
2009-10-04T00:44:01Z (16 years ago)
From
Rhaana Starling at U of Leicester <rlcs1@star.le.ac.uk>
R.L.C. Starling and A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester) report on behalf
of the Swift-XRT team:

The Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) observed the Fermi GBM/LAT and
Integral-detected GRB 091003 (Rau GCN Circ. 9983; McEnery et al. GCN
Circ. 9985) on 2009 October 3 at 20:07:28 UT, 15.5 hours after the
Fermi trigger.

In 2.5 ks of photon counting mode data we detect an uncatalogued
X-ray source at  RA, Dec = 251.52047, 36.62548 degrees, which is
equivalent to:

RA (J2000) = 16:46:04.9
Dec (J2000) = +36:37:31.74

with an uncertainty of 3.7 arcsec (radius, 90% containment). This
is 6.85 arcmin from the Fermi LAT position and within its error circle.

A spectrum formed from these data can be fit with an absorbed power law of
photon index 1.7+/-0.3, with nH < 2e21 cm-2, and has an observed 0.3-10 keV 
count rate of 0.087+/-0.007 count/s corresponding to a flux of 3.6e-12 
erg/cm2/s.

At this stage we do not have enough data to tell if the source is fading.

This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.

GCN Circular 9987

Subject
GRB 091003: Swift UVOT Detection of a Candidate UV Afterglow
Date
2009-10-04T02:21:18Z (16 years ago)
From
Caryl Gronwall at PSU/Swift-UVOT <caryl@astro.psu.edu>
C. Gronwall (PSU) and R.L.C. Starling (U. Leicester) report on behalf
of the Swift/UVOT team:

The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 091003
approximately 15.5 hours after the Fermi/GBM trigger (Rau,
GCN Circ. 9983).  In a 885 sec observation in the uvw2 filter, we
find a faint candidate fading UV afterglow within the XRT error circle
(Starling & Beardmore, GCN Circ. 9986).  The estimated magnitude is
21.02 +/- 0.27.  This value is not corrected for the Galactic
extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.02 in the direction of
the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998).

GCN Circular 9988

Subject
GRB 091003: UVOT-enhanced XRT position
Date
2009-10-04T12:10:23Z (16 years ago)
From
Rhaana Starling at U of Leicester <rlcs1@star.le.ac.uk>
R.L.C. Starling, P.A. Evans, A.P. Beardmore and M.R. Goad (U. Leicester) 
report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team:

Using 4881 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 11 UVOT 
images for GRB 091003, we find an astrometrically corrected X-ray 
position (using the XRT-UVOT alignment and matching UVOT field sources to 
the USNO-B1 catalogue): RA, Dec =
251.51980, 36.62470 which is equivalent to:

RA (J2000):  16 46 4.75
Dec (J2000): +36 37 29.0

with an uncertainty of 1.7 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence). The UV 
counterpart reported in Gronwall & Starling (GCN Circ.9987) is consistent 
with this position.

This position may be improved as more data are received.  The latest
position can be viewed at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_positions. Position
enhancement is described by Goad et al. (2007, A&A, 476, 1401) and Evans
et al. (2009, MNRAS, 397, 1177).

This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.

GCN Circular 9989

Subject
GRB 091003: Skynet/DSO Observations
Date
2009-10-04T18:14:15Z (16 years ago)
From
Josh Haislip at U.North Carolina <haislip@physics.unc.edu>
J. Haislip, D. Reichart, A. Smith, D. Caton, L. Hawkins, K. Ivarsen, A. 
LaCluyze, A. Foster, J. Moore, A. Oza, M. Schubel, J. Styblova, A. Trotter, 
J. A. Crain, and M. Nysewander report:

Skynet observed the Fermi/LAT localization (McEnery, Chiang & Hanabata, GCN 
9985) of GRB 091003 (Rau, GCN 9935) with the 14" Dark Sky Observatory 
telescope in North Carolina beginning 20.2 hours after the trigger in BVRI.

We do not detect the afterglow (Starling & Beardmore, GCN 9986; Gronwall & 
Starling, GCN 9987).  Stacking only images that increase the limiting 
magnitude yields:

mean                                             1-sig.  1-sig.
time                          3-sig.             sys.    stat.
since                         lim.    cal.       cal.    cal.
trig.  tel.    exp.     fil.  mag.    stars*     unc.    unc.
(h)            (# x s)                           (mag)   (mag)

21.0   DSO-14  16 x 80  V     19.6    58 SDSS 7  0.076   0.000
21.0   DSO-14  17 x 80  B     19.5    33 SDSS 7  0.087   0.001
21.0   DSO-14  16 x 80  R     19.8    64 SDSS 7  0.064   0.000
21.0   DSO-14  16 x 80  I     19.3    45 SDSS 7  0.049   0.000

* Transformed using Jester et al., 2005, ApJ, 130, 873.

GCN Circular 9990

Subject
GRB 091003: Swift/UVOT Detection of an Optical Afterglow
Date
2009-10-04T23:42:48Z (16 years ago)
From
Tyler Pritchard at PSU <tapritchard@astro.psu.edu>
T. A. Pritchard (PSU) , E.A. Hoversten (PSU), and
R.L.C. Starling (U. Leicester) report on behalf of the
Swift/UVOT team:

The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of
GRB 091003 approximately 15.5 hours after the FERMI/GBM Trigger (Rau,
GCN Circ. 9983) A faint source is detected with 3.9-sigma confidence
in the summed UVOT observations at the Swift UVOT-enhanced XRT
position (R.L.C. Starling, et al. GCN Circ. 9988).

The observed magnitudes and upper limits using the UVOT photometric
system (Poole etal. 2008, MNRAS, 383, 627) for the initial exposures
are:

Filter   T_start(s)   T_stop(s)   Exp(s)          Mag
=======================================================================
w2        56820        64169    1150     21.08 � 0.28 (3.9 sigma)
w1       103712       104474     750     20.70 � 0.32 (3.4 sigma)
b         92252        92954     685     20.80 � 0.26 (4.1 sigma)

m2	  98013        98715     691     > 21.63
v         86432        87195     741     > 20.27

The values quoted above are not corrected for the Galactic extinction
due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.02 in the direction of the burst
(Schlegel et al. 1998).

GCN Circular 9991

Subject
GRB 091003: Swift-XRT confirmation of fading afterglow
Date
2009-10-05T07:59:40Z (16 years ago)
From
Kim Page at U.of Leicester <kpa@star.le.ac.uk>
K.L. Page, R.L.C. Starling, P.A. Evans & A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester) 
report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team:

We have now collected 15 ks of Swift-XRT Photon Counting mode data on the 
Fermi burst GRB 091003 (Rau, GCN Circ. 9983; McEnery, Chiang & Hanabata, 
GCN Circ. 9985), between 56 and 168 ks after the trigger. The light-curve 
is fading, with alpha = 1.02 +0.21/-0.20. We therefore confirm that the 
source given by Starling et al. in GCN Circ. 9986 and 9988 is, indeed, the 
X-ray afterglow.

This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.

GCN Circular 9995

Subject
GRB 091003: WHT ACAM observations
Date
2009-10-05T17:11:44Z (16 years ago)
From
Klaas Wiersema at U of Leicester <kw113@star.le.ac.uk>
K. Wiersema, N. Tanvir (Leicester), A. Levan (Warwick) and C. Benn (ING) 
report on behalf of a larger collaboration:

We observed the afterglow of Fermi GRB 091003 (Rau GCN 9983; McEnery et al 
GCN 9985; Starling & Beardmore GCN 9986) with the William Herschel 
Telescope, using the ACAM instrument. We took a 60 and a 250 second 
exposure in imaging mode, starting at 21:11 UT, October 4 (1.69 days after 
burst).
The afterglow is clearly detected, with r = 21.33 +/- 0.11 (calibrated to 
SDSS field stars), at position:

RA (J2000) = 16:46:04.687
Dec (J2000) = +36:37:30.76
with uncertainty 0.3 arcseconds.

We obtained spectroscopy with ACAM immediately after, at high airmass. Two 
900 second exposures were obtained using the 400V grism and a 1 arcsecond 
slit. Faint continuum emission is detected over the 4000-9300 A range. No 
strong absorption or emission lines are detected. The detection of 
continuum at 4000A gives a upper limit to the redshift of 2.3.

GCN Circular 9997

Subject
GRB 091003: Lick observations and possible SDSS host galaxy
Date
2009-10-06T22:17:22Z (16 years ago)
From
Daniel Perley at U.C. Berkeley <dperley@astro.berkeley.edu>
D. A. Perley, J. Choi, A. J. L. Morton, and M. Ganeshalingam (UC 
Berkeley) report:

We observed the position of Fermi GRB 091003 (Rau et al., GCN9983) using 
the Nickel 1m telescope at Lick Observatory on the night of 2009-10-06 
(UT) starting at 04:06 for a series of five 600-second exposures in 
R-band.  The afterglow (Starling and Beardmore, GCN 9986; Gronwall and 
Starling, GCN 9987) is marginally detected in the combined frame.

Calibrating to nearby SDSS stars transformed to R-band using the 
equations of Lupton et al. (2005) we estimate a magnitude of

R = 21.2 +/- 0.4  (t_mid = 3.00 days)

This suggests only limited fading since the observations of Wiersama et 
al. (GCN 9995).

Further, we note that a source coincident with this position is detected 
in the SDSS survey imaging.  The object (SDSS J164604.70+363731.1) has a 
magnitude of r = 23.2 and is classified as a star, but could represent 
the host galaxy of this event.  A low redshift would also be consistent 
with the absence of absorption signatures in the spectrum of Wiersema et 
al. and with the Swift UVW2 detection (Pritchard et al., GCN 9990).  We 
encourage further observations, in particular additional spectroscopy, 
of this object.

GCN Circular 10031

Subject
GRB 091003: Gemini-N redshift of possible host galaxy
Date
2009-10-18T19:20:08Z (16 years ago)
From
Antonino Cucchiara at PSU <cucchiara@astro.psu.edu>
A. Cucchiara, D. B. Fox (PSU), S. B. Cenko (U. Berkeley), N. Tanvir (U. 
Leicester),
E. Berger (Harvard U.) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:

"On October 17.20 UT we observed  the possible host galaxy of the Fermi/LAT
GRB 091003 (McEnery at al, GCN 9985 and Perley et al. GCN 9997) with
Gemini GMOS-N.

We took a sequence of 2 spectra of 1800s each covering the 6000-10000A
wavelength range. The spectra clearly show emission lines which we 
interpreted
as [OII]3727, Hbeta and we resolved the [OIII]4959,5007 doublet.
All these identifications are consistent with redshift z = 0.8969 for 
this galaxy.

The galaxy is detected in our 300s R-band acquisition image.
The estimated magnitude, calibrated using 3 SDSS stars is:

R = 22.65 +- 0.05 mag

This value is brighter than the cataloged magnitude, which may indicate a
contribution of the afterglow. After subtracting the contribution
of the galaxy we derive an estimate of the OT flux, R = 23.65 +- 0.05 mag.

We thank the Gemini staff for performing these observations."

GCN Circular 10032

Subject
GRB 091003: Possible Supernova Component
Date
2009-10-18T19:56:31Z (16 years ago)
From
Stephen Holland at USRA/NASA/GSFC/SSC <Stephen.T.Holland@nasa.gov>
S. T. Holland (CRESST/USRA/GSFC) reports:

     The excess light from the z = 0.8969 host galaxy candidate for
GRB 091003 (Cucchiara et al. 2009, GCNC 10031) correspond to a
rest-frame B-band absolute magnitude of approximately M_B = -20 mag.
This is approximately consistent with the peak rest-frame B-band
absolute magnitude of SN1998bw.  The Cucchiara et al. (2009, GCNC
10031) observation was taken on 2009 Oct 17, which corresponds to
approximately seven days after the burst in the rest frame, which is
approximately the expected time of maximum light for a SN Ib/c.
Therefore, we suggest that the excess light seen in this galaxy may be
due to a supernova component of GRB 091003.  The lack of an observed
optical afterglow at earlier times supports this interpretation.
Further spectroscopic observations are encouraged to test this
hypothesis.

GCN Circular 10033

Subject
Fwd: GRB 091003: Possible Supernova Component Retraction
Date
2009-10-18T20:04:51Z (16 years ago)
From
Stephen Holland at USRA/NASA/GSFC/SSC <Stephen.T.Holland@nasa.gov>
S. T. Holland (CRESST/USRA/GSFC) reports:

     I would like to retract GCNC 10032 (Holland 2009).  It was sent  
in error due to a confusion between GRB 091003 and GRB 091010.  I  
apologize for the error and any confusion that it may have caused.

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