GRB 200215A

The Fermi GBM team reports the detection of a likely LONG GRB

At 14:39:31 UT on 15 Feb 2020, the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) triggered and located GRB 200215A (trigger 603470376.849696 / 200215611).

The on-ground calculated location, using the Fermi GBM trigger data, is RA = 30.5, Dec = 10.0 (J2000 degrees, equivalent to J2000 02h 01m, 10d 00'), with a statistical uncertainty of 4.5 degrees.

The angle from the Fermi LAT boresight is 84.0 degrees.

The skymap can be found here:
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/FTP/fermi/data/gbm/triggers/2020/bn200215611/quicklook/glg_skymap_all_bn200215611.png

The HEALPix FITS file, including the estimated localization systematic, can be found here:
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/FTP/fermi/data/gbm/triggers/2020/bn200215611/quicklook/glg_healpix_all_bn200215611.fit

The GBM light curve can be found here:
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/FTP/fermi/data/gbm/triggers/2020/bn200215611/quicklook/glg_lc_medres34_bn200215611.gif

M. G. Bernardini (INAF-OAB), P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), J.D. Gropp (PSU),
J. A. Kennea (PSU), N. J. Klingler (PSU), H. A. Krimm (NSF),
N. P. M. Kuin (UCL-MSSL), S. Laha (GSFC/UMBC/CRESST),
A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL),
T. Sbarrato (INAF-OAB) and M. H. Siegel (PSU) report on behalf of the
Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Team:

At 14:39:31 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 200215A (trigger=956639).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 34.122, +12.781 which is 
   RA(J2000) = 02h 16m 29s
   Dec(J2000) = +12d 46' 50"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve up to T+8s showed a 
single-peaked structure with a duration of about 20 sec.  (The light curve
after T+8s is not immediately available.)  The peak count rate
was ~4000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0 sec after the trigger. 

The XRT began observing the field at 14:40:59.0 UT, 87.1 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a fading,
uncatalogued X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 34.0794,
12.7704 which is equivalent to:
   RA(J2000)  = 02h 16m 19.05s
   Dec(J2000) = +12d 46' 13.6"
with an uncertainty of 2.1 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 154 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the
BAT error circle. This position may be improved as more data are
received; the latest position is available at
https://www.swift.ac.uk/sper. 

A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event
data gives a column density in excess of the Galactic value (1.21 x
10^21 cm^-2, Willingale et al. 2013), with an excess column of 4.2
(+3.73/-3.12) x 10^21 cm^-2 (90% confidence). 

UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter
starting 90 seconds after the BAT trigger. No credible afterglow candidate has
been found in the initial data products. The 2.7'x2.7' sub-image covers none of
the XRT error circle. The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated
on-board covers 100% of the XRT error circle. The list of sources is typically
complete to about 18 mag. No correction has been made for the expected
extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.15. 

Burst Advocate for this burst is M. G. Bernardini (grazia.bernardini AT brera.inaf.it). 
Please contact the BA by email if you require additional information
regarding Swift followup of this burst. In extremely urgent cases, after
trying the Burst Advocate, you can contact the Swift PI by phone (see
Swift TOO web site for information: http://www.swift.psu.edu/)

D. Xu, Z.P. Zhu, X. Liu, B.Y. Yu, Y. Ma (NAOC), X. Gao (Urumqi No.1 
Senior High School) report:

We observed the field of GRB 200215A (Bernardini et al., GCN 27079
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 ) 
using the NEXT 0.6m optical telescope located at Nanshan, Xinjiang, 
China. Observations automatically started at 14:40:59 UT on 2002-02-15, 
i.e., 88 s after the BAT trigger. We obtained 3x40 s,  4x60 s, and 5x90 
s frames in the Sloan r-filter. Observations then ended due to 
follow-ups of LIGO/Virgo S200213t.

No optical afterglow is detected in our images at the XRT position 
(Bernardini et al., GCN 27079
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 ) down to a limiting magnitude of r~18.0, 
calibrated with the nearby PanSTARRS field.

D. A. Kann (HETH/IAA-CSIC), and A. de Ugarte Postigo (HETH/IAA-CSIC, 
DARK/NBI) report:

In PanSTARRS imaging of the field of GRB 200215A (Bernardini et al., GCN 
27079
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 ), we find a bright, extended object (1".5 x 1".7) at the edge of 
the enhanced XRT error circle given in Bernanrdini et al.

According to the PanSTARRS catalog, the source lies at:

RA = 02:16:19.065 (J2000)
Dec. = +12:46:09.67 (J2000)

The Kron magnitudes in the catalog are given as:

g_PS = 21.73 +/- 0.06,
r_PS = 20.90 +/- 0.07,
i_PS = 20.26 +/- 0.06,
z_PS = 19.89 +/- 0.05,
y_PS = 19.58 +/- 0.10

We suggest this galaxy may be the host galaxy of GRB 200215A, implying a 
low redshift.

There is another clear extended galaxy to the east of this source, the 
relationship between the two is unclear at this time.

Spectroscopy of these galaxies is encouraged.

D. A. Perley and A. M. Cockeram (LJMU) report:

We observed the field of GRB 200215A (Bernardini et al., GCN 27079
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 ) with 
the IO:O imager on the 2m robotic Liverpool Telescope between 19:56 and 
20:14 UT on 2019-02-15.  We acquired 3x150s exposures in each of the i 
and z filters.  No counterpart is detected within the XRT error circle 
in either filter.  Calibrating relative to nearby standards from the 
Pan-STARRS 1 catalog, we place upper limits (3-sigma) of:

i > 22.90  (t = 0.2204 days)
z > 21.95  (t = 0.2264 days)











DisclaimerNone

S.Poolakkil (UAH) and C. Meegan (UAH)
report on behalf of the Fermi GBM Team:

"At 14:39:31.85 UT on 15 February 2020, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor
triggered and located GRB 200215A (trigger 603470376 / 200215611),
which was also detected by the Swift/BAT (Bernardini et al. 2020, GCN
27079
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 ).
The GBM on-ground location is consistent with the Swift position.

The angle from the Fermi LAT boresight at the GBM trigger time is 86
degrees.

The GBM light curve consists of a single bright pulse followed by some
extended emission with a duration (T90) of about 24 s (50-300 keV).
The time-averaged spectrum from T0-4.09 s to T0+5.12 s is
best fit by a power law function with an exponential
high-energy cutoff.  The power law index is -0.76 +/- 0.16 and
the cutoff energy, parameterized as Epeak, is 162 +/- 25 keV.

The event fluence (10-1000 keV) in this time interval is
(1.858 +/- 0.175)E-06 erg/cm^2. The 1-sec peak photon flux
measured starting from T0+0.06 s in the 10-1000 keV band
is 3.7 +/- 0.3 ph/s/cm^2.

The spectral analysis results presented above are preliminary;
final results will be published in the GBM GRB Catalog:
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/fermi/fermigbrst.html

For Fermi GBM data and info, please visit the official Fermi GBM Support
Page:
https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/access/gbm/"

A. de Ugarte Postigo (HETH/IAA-CSIC, DARK/NBI), D. A. Kann,
M. Blazek, F. Agui Fernandez, C. Thoene (all HETH/IAA-CSIC), 
I. Hermelo, B. Arroyo (both CAHA), Y. Ascasibar, A. Gutierrez Adame, 
A. Cayrol Bernardo, A. Rodriguez Ortega, A. Rayo Mato, 
M. Rocamora Bernal, M. A. Diaz Teodori, P. Nu��ez Yebra,
S. Ortega Martinez, G Meeus, D. Barba Gonzalez, L Brenes Gil,
J. Ferrer Ereza, H. Garcia Escudero, S. Jaraba G��mez,
D. Lopez Cano, P. Sanchez Alarcon, P Santamarina Guerrero, 
A. Romar Tejeiro (UAM) report:

We observed the field of GRB 200215A (Bernardini et al., GCN 27079
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 ) 
with CAFOS on the 2.2m telescope at Calar Alto Observatory, in 
Almeria (Spain). Our observation started at 19:15 UT (4.591 hr after the 
burst) and consisted of 5x720 s in Rc band.

We detect no optical counterpart within the XRT error circle down to a 
3-sigma limit of 24.0 mag.

P.A. Evans, M.R. Goad, J.P. Osborne and A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester) 
report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team.

Using 3846 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 3 UVOT
images for GRB 200215A, 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 = 34.07940, +12.77079 which is equivalent
to:

RA (J2000): 02h 16m 19.06s
Dec (J2000): +12d 46' 14.9"

with an uncertainty of 1.5 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence).

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 was automatically generated, and is an official product of the
Swift-XRT team.

N. P. M. Kuin (UCL-MSSL) and M. G. Bernardini (INAF-OAB)
report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team:

The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 200215A
90 s after the BAT trigger (Bernardini et al., GCN Circ. 27079
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 ).
No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position (Evans et al. GCN
Circ. 27089
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 ) is detected in the initial UVOT exposures.
Preliminary 3-sigma upper limits using the UVOT photometric system
(Breeveld et al. 2011, AIP Conf. Proc. 1358, 373) for the first
finding chart (FC) exposure and subsequent exposures are:

Filter         T_start(s)   T_stop(s)      Exp(s)         Mag

white_FC            90          240          147         >20.0
u_FC               302          552          246         >20.0
white               90         7290          581         >21.2
v                  634         5070          294         >18.5
b                  559         7092          294         >19.8
u                  302         6885          481         >20.3
w1                1087         6680          216         >19.2
w2               10534        11091          547         >19.8

The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction
due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.15 in the direction of the burst
(Schlegel et al. 1998).

M. Perri (ASDC), V. D'Elia (ASDC), A. D'Ai (INAF-IASFPA), J.A. Kennea
(PSU), A. Tohuvavohu (U. Toronto), B. Sbarufatti (PSU), K.L. Page (U.
Leicester), A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester), P.A. Evans (U. Leicester)
and M.G. Bernardini report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team:

We have analysed 7.4 ks of XRT data for GRB 200215A (Bernardini et al.
GCN Circ. 27079
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 ), from 72 s to 35.0 ks after the  BAT trigger. The data
comprise 24 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode (the first 9 s were taken
while Swift was slewing) with the remainder in Photon Counting (PC)
mode. The enhanced XRT position for this burst was given by Evans et
al. (GCN Circ. 27089
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 ).

The light curve can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay
index of alpha=0.93 (+/-0.04).

A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed
power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.47 (+0.18, -0.17). The
best-fitting absorption column is  1.7 (+0.8, -0.5) x 10^21 cm^-2,
consistent with the Galactic value of 1.2 x 10^21 cm^-2 (Willingale et
al. 2013). The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux
conversion factor deduced from this spectrum  is 4.9 x 10^-11 (5.5 x
10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. 

A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus:
Total column:	     1.7 (+0.8, -0.5) x 10^21 cm^-2
Galactic foreground: 1.2 x 10^21 cm^-2
Excess significance: <1.6 sigma
Photon index:	     1.47 (+0.18, -0.17)

If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of
0.93, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 7.5 x 10^-3 count s^-1,
corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 3.6 x
10^-13 (4.1 x 10^-13) erg cm^-2 s^-1.

The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at
http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00956639.

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

S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), M. G. Bernardini (INAF-OAB),  H. A. Krimm (NSF),

S. Laha (GSFC/UMBC), A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), C. B. Markwardt (GSFC), D. M. Palmer (LANL),

T. Sakamoto (AGU), M. Stamatikos (OSU), T. N. Ukwatta (LANL) (i.e. the Swift-BAT team):

Using the data set from T-239 to T+963 sec from the recent telemetry downlink,
we report further analysis of BAT GRB 200215A (trigger #956639)
(Bernardini, et al., GCN Circ. 27079
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 ).  The BAT ground-calculated position is
RA, Dec = 34.100, 12.775 deg which is
   RA(J2000)  =  02h 16m 24.1s
   Dec(J2000) = +12d 46' 31.7"
with an uncertainty of 1.0 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment).
The partial coding was 73%.


The mask-weighted light curve shows a single symmetrical peak from roughly

-10 sec to +6 sec, peaking at T+0 sec. T90 (15-350 keV) is 11.7 +- 2.2 sec

(estimated error including systematics).


The time-averaged spectrum from T-9.97 to T+5.37 sec is best fit by a simple

power-law model.  The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is

1.41 +- 0.09.  The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 1.1 +- 0.1 x 10^-6 erg/cm2.
The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T-0.16 sec in the 15-150 keV band
is 2.7 +- 0.2 ph/cm2/sec.  All the quoted errors are at the 90% confidence
level.

The results of the batgrbproduct analysis are available at
http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/notices_s/956639/BA/

D. Xu, Z.P. Zhu, X. Liu, H.J. Wang, L. Ge (NAOC) report:

We observed the field of GRB 200215A (Bernardini et al., GCN 27079
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 ) 
using the United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT). Observations 
started at 05:02:05 UT on 2020-02-16 (i.e., 14.38 hr after the BAT 
trigger), and 3600 s H-band imagining was obtained.

No afterglow is detected within the Enhanced XRT error circle (Evans et 
al., GCN 27089
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 ) in our stacked image down to a limiting magnitude of H~20.0.

 From the PanSTARRS archive, there exists an extended object outside and 
south to the Enhanced XRT error circle by ~5.1 arcsec, as reported in 
Kann & de Ugarte Postigo (GCN 27083
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 ). It's thus dubbed PS021619+124609 
here. As the GRB field is in the previous UKIRT H-band survey, we 
performed photometry of PS021619+124609 in both epochs. Any significant 
brightening for PS021619+124609 is ruled out, and we're inclined to 
think it is not related to the GRB.

We thank the great support of the UKIRT staff, in particular Michael Pohlen.

Alan M. Watson (UNAM), Nat Butler (ASU), Alexander Kutyrev (GSFC),
William H. Lee (UNAM), Michael G. Richer (UNAM), Ori Fox (STScI), J.
Xavier Prochaska (UCSC), Josh Bloom (UCB), Antonino Cucchiara (UVI),
Eleonora Troja (GSFC), Owen Littlejohns (ASU), Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz
(UCSC), Jes��s Gonz��lez (UNAM), Carlos Rom��n-Z����iga (UNAM), Harvey
Moseley (GSFC), John Capone (UMD), V. Zach Golkhou (U. Wash.), and Vicki
Toy (UMD) report:

We observed the field of GRB 200215A (Bernardini et al., GCN Circ.
27079
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 ) with the Reionization and Transients Infrared Camera (RATIR;
www.ratir.org) on the 1.5m Harold Johnson Telescope at the Observatorio
Astron��mico Nacional on Sierra San Pedro M��rtir from 2020/02 16.11 to
2020/02 16.23 UTC (11.91 to 14.78 hours after the BAT trigger),
obtaining a total of 1.79 hours exposure in the r and i bands.

For a source within the enhanced Swift-XRT error circle (Evans et al.,
GCN Circ. 27089
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 ), in comparison with the SDSS DR9 catalog, we obtain the
following 3-sigma upper limits:

  r	> 22.01
  i	> 23.15

These magnitudes are in the AB system and are not corrected for Galactic
extinction in the direction of the GRB.

We thank the staff of the Observatorio Astron��mico Nacional in San Pedro
M��rtir.

T. Sakamoto, A. Yoshida, V. Pal'shin, S. Sugita (AGU),
Y. Kawakubo (LSU), K. Yamaoka (Nagoya U), S. Nakahira (RIKEN),
Y. Asaoka, S. Torii (Waseda U), Y. Shimizu, T. Tamura (Kanagawa U),
N. Cannady (GSFC/UMBC), M. L. Cherry (LSU),
S. Ricciarini (U of Florence), P. S. Marrocchesi (U of Siena),
and the CALET collaboration:

The long GRB 200215A (Swift detection: Bernardini et al., GCN Circ. 27079
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 ,
Barthelmy et al., GCN Circ. 27098
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 ; Fermi GBM detection: Poolakkil and
Meegan, GCN Circ. 27087
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 ) triggered the CALET Gamma-ray Burst Monitor
(CGBM) at 14:39:28.087 UTC on 15 February 2020.
The burst signal was seen by all CGBM detectors.

The burst light curve shows a multi-peaked structure which starts
at T+0.1 sec, peaks at T+4.0 sec and ends at T+8.3 sec.
The T90 and T50 durations measured by the SGM data are 7.1 +- 1.6 sec
and 2.2 +- 1.5 sec (40-1000 keV), respectively.

The ground processed light curve is available at

http://cgbm.calet.jp/cgbm_trigger/ground/1265812510/

The CALET data used in this analysis are provided by
the Waseda CALET Operation Center located at the Waseda University.

R. Strausbaugh (U. of the Virgin Islands), A. Cucchiara (U. of the Virgin Islands/College of Marin) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:

We observed Swift GRB 200215A (Bernardini et al., GCN 27079
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 ) with the LCO 1-m Sinistro instrument at the McDonald Observatory, Texas, USA site, on February 16, from 01:37 to 01:46 UT (corresponding to 10.97 to 11.12 hours from the GRB trigger time) with the Bessel I filter.

We performed a series of 3x120s exposures. We do not detect any sources in the individual frames (nor in stacked images) in the Swift error region.  Using the USNO-B.1 catalog as reference, we obtain the following 3-sigma upper limit:

I > 18.8

R.S. is funded by NSF AST grant #1831682