GRB 231215A
GCN Circular 35343
Subject
GRB 231215A: Swift detection of a burst
Date
2023-12-15T09:55:59Z (2 years ago)
From
David Palmer at LANL <palmer@lanl.gov>
Via
email
P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), R. Brivio (INAF-OAB), M. Ferro (INAF-OAB),
J.D. Gropp (PSU), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL),
T. Sakamoto (AGU), C. Salvaggio (INAF-OAB), T. Sbarrato (INAF-OAB),
B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB) and M. H. Siegel (PSU) report on behalf of
the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Team:
At 09:47:25 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 231215A (trigger=1202522). Swift could not immediately slew
due to an Earth limb observing constraint.
The BAT on-board calculated location is
RA, Dec 9.750, +57.642 which is
RA(J2000) = 00h 39m 00s
Dec(J2000) = +57d 38' 32"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including
systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a complex
structure with a duration of about 30 sec. The peak count rate
was ~6000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~1 sec after the trigger.
Due to an observing constraint, Swift will not slew until T0+42.6
minutes. There will be no XRT or UVOT data until this time.
Burst Advocate for this burst is P. D'Avanzo (paolo.davanzo AT 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/)
GCN Circular 35345
Subject
GRB 231215A: Swift-XRT observations
Date
2023-12-15T11:15:35Z (2 years ago)
From
Phil Evans at U of Leicester <pae9@star.le.ac.uk>
Via
email
P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester), D.N. Burrows
(PSU), J.A. Kennea (PSU), S. Campana (INAF-OAB) and G. Cusumano
(INAF-IASF PA) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team:
The XRT began observing the field of GRB 231215A at 10:32:51.0 UT,
2725.7 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we
find a bright, fading, uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec
9.74175, 57.64645 which is equivalent to:
RA(J2000) = 00h 38m 58.02s
Dec(J2000) = +57d 38' 47.2"
with an uncertainty of 3.6 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 22 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 (4.25 x
10^21 cm^-2, Willingale et al. 2013), with an excess column of 4.7
(+2.34/-2.12) x 10^21 cm^-2 (90% confidence).
GCN Circular 35349
Subject
GRB 231215A: Mondy optical bright afterglow detection
Date
2023-12-15T12:55:34Z (2 years ago)
From
Alexei Pozanenko at IKI, Moscow <apozanen@iki.rssi.ru>
Via
legacy email
N. Pankov (HSE, IKI), A. Pozanenko (IKI), E. Klunko (ISTP), S. Belkin (IKI) report on behalf of GRB IKI FuN:
We observed the field of Swift GRB 231215A (D'Avanzo et al., GCN 35343; Evans et al., GCN 35345) with AZT-33IK telescope of Mondy observatory in R-filter starting on 2023-12-15 (UT) 11:17:39. Preliminary photometry of the fist immaes reveals a new bright source within XRT error circle (Evans et al., GCN 35345)
Date UT start t-T0 Exp. Filter OT Err.
(mid, days) (s)
2023-12-15 11:17:39 0.063363 1x120 R 17.42 0.07
The photometry is based on nearby USNO-B1.0 R2 stars.
We also may suggest that GCN 35347 (Lipunov et al.) refer to the afterglow of GRB 231215A.
GCN Circular 35351
Subject
GRB 231215A : MITSuME Akeno optical afterglow candidate detection
Date
2023-12-15T13:31:43Z (2 years ago)
From
Mahito Sasada at Tokyo Institute of Technology <sasada@hp.phys.titech.ac.jp>
Via
Web form
M. Sasada, N. Higuchi, I. Takahashi, M. Niwano, S. Sato, S. Hayatsu, H. Takei, H. Seki, Y. Yatsu and N. Kawai (Tokyo Tech) report on behalf of the MITSuME collaboration:
We observed the field of GRB 231215A (D'Avanzo et al., GCN 35343) with the optical three color (g', Rc, and Ic) CCD cameras attached to the MITSuME 50 cm telescope Akeno.
The observation with a series of 10 sec exposures started at 2023-12-15 09:50:27 UT (182 seconds after the Swift/BAT trigger). We stacked the first six images. An optical candidate of the afterglow can be found at the location of (RA, Dec) = (9.7393, 57.6472) near the Swift/XRT error position (Evans et al., GCN 35345). Here we report magnitudes by the aperture photometry at the position.
T0+[sec] | MID-UT | T-EXP[sec] | magnitudes of aperture photometry
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
238 | 2023-12-15 09:51:23 | 60 | g’=17.54+/-0.06, Rc=17.86+/-0.05, Ic=17.40+/-0.05
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T0+ : Elapsed time after the trigger
T-EXP: Total Exposure time
The magnitudes are consistent with Lipunov et al., GCN 35347 and Pankov et al., GCN 35349. We are continuing to observe the candidate.
We used the PS1 catalog for flux calibration. The catalog magnitudes in PS1 g, r and i bands were converted to our g'-, Rc- and Ic-band magnitudes following Tonry et al. (2012), Table 6. The magnitudes are expressed in the AB system. The images were processed in real-time through the MITSuME GPU reduction pipeline (Niwano et al. 2021, PASJ, Vol.73, Issue 1, Pages 4-24; https://github.com/MNiwano/Eclaire).
GCN Circular 35352
Subject
GRB 231215A: AstroSat CZTI detection
Date
2023-12-15T14:11:50Z (2 years ago)
From
Gaurav Waratkar at IIT Bombay <gauravwaratkar@iitb.ac.in>
Via
Web form
P. K. Navaneeth (IUCAA), G. Waratkar (IITB), A. Vibhute (IUCAA), V. Bhalerao (IITB), D. Bhattacharya (Ashoka University/IUCAA), A. R. Rao (IUCAA/TIFR), and S. Vadawale (PRL) report on behalf of the AstroSat CZTI collaboration:
Analysis of AstroSat CZTI data with the CIFT framework (Sharma et al., 2021, JApA, 42, 73) showed the detection of a bright long-duration GRB 231215A which was also detected by Swift-BAT (D'Avanzo et al., GCN Circ. 35343), and Fermi-GBM (Fermi GBM Team, GCN Circ. 35344).
The source was clearly detected in the CZT detectors in the 20-200 keV energy range. The light curve showed two peaks of emission with the strongest peak at 2023-12-15 09:47:26.50 UTC. The measured peak count rate associated with the burst is 775 (+59, -30) counts/s above the background in the combined data of three quadrants (out of four), with a total of 8196 (+334, -292) counts. The local mean background count rate was 267 (+3, -3) counts/s. Using cumulative rates, we measure a T90 of 15 (+1, -1) s. In the preliminary analysis, we find 1372 Compton events associated with this event.
The source was also clearly detected in the CsI anticoincidence (Veto) detector in the 100-500 keV energy range. The light curve showed two peaks of emission with the strongest peak at 2023-12-15 09:47:25.92 UTC. The measured peak count rate associated with the burst is 2162 (+110, -46) counts/s above the background in the combined data of all quadrants, with a total of 22784 (+686, -737) counts. The local mean background count rate was 1465 (+6, -7) counts/s. We measure a T90 of 14 (+1, -2) s from the cumulative Veto light curve.
CZTI is built by a TIFR-led consortium of institutes across India, including VSSC, URSC, IUCAA, SAC, and PRL. The Indian Space Research Organisation funded, managed, and facilitated the project.
CZTI GRB detections are reported regularly on the payload site at:
http://astrosat.iucaa.in/czti/?q=grb
GCN Circular 35353
Subject
GRB 231215A : Nanshan/HMT optical observations
Date
2023-12-15T14:32:20Z (2 years ago)
From
Dong Xu at NAOC/CAS <dxu@nao.cas.cn>
Via
email
J. An, X. Liu, S.Q. Jiang, S.Y. Fu, T.H. Lu, Z.P. Zhu, D. Xu (NAOC), X. Gao (Urumqi No.1 Senior High School), J.Z. Liu (XAO) report:
We observed the field of GRB 231215A detected by Swift (D'Avanzo et al., GCN 35343) using the HMT-0.5m telescope located at Nanshan, Xinjiang, China. Observations started at 11:51:08 UT on 2023-12-15, i.e., 2.06 hr after the BAT trigger. A series of 90, 120, 200 s frames without any filter have been obtained and observations are ongoing.
Preliminary analysis of the initial frames shows that the previously reported optical afterglow (e.g., Pankov et al., GCN 35349; Sasada et al., GCN 35351) has decayed to m(r) = 18.3 +/- 0.1 mag at 2.19 hr post-burst, calibrated with the nearby PanSTAR field in the Sloan r-filter and the magnitude is not corrected for Galactic extinction.
GCN Circular 35354
Subject
GRB 231215A: GROWTH-India optical follow-up
Date
2023-12-15T15:35:12Z (2 years ago)
From
Vishwajeet Swain at IIT Bombay <vishwajeet.s@iitb.ac.in>
Via
Web form
Y. Wagh, R. Kumar, V. Swain, A. Salgundi, V. Bhalerao (IIT Bombay), G. C. Anupama, S. Barway (IIA), K. Angail (IAO)
We observed the field of GRB 231215A detected by Swift (D'Avanzo et al., GCN Circ. 35343) with 0.7m GROWTH-India Telescope (GIT). We started the observation at 2023-12-15 13:48:10.312 UT, i.e., 4.01 hours after the Swift trigger. We obtained multiple images in the r' and g' filters. We clearly detected the afterglow near the uncertainty radius of Swift-XRT position reported by P.A. Evans et al., GCN Circ. 35345 and are consistent with the coordinate reported by M. Sasada at al., GCN Circ. 35351. The photometry results follow as:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| JD (mid) | t-t0 (hours) | Filter | Exposure (s) | Magnitude (AB) |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2460294.07510789 | 4.008 | r' | 380 | 19.65 +/- 0.08 |
| 2460294.08452486 | 4.248 | g' | 380 | 20.44 +/- 0.11 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The results are consistent to the values reported by V.Lipunov et al., GCN Circ. 35347; N. Pankov et al., GCN Circ. 35349; M. Sasada et al., GCN Circ. 35351; J. An et al., GCN Circ. 35353. The magnitudes are calibrated against PanSTARRS DR1 (Chambers et al., 2016) and are not corrected for Galactic extinction.
The GROWTH India Telescope (GIT; Kumar et al. 2022) is a 70-cm telescope with a 0.7-degree field of view, set up by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) with funding from DST-SERB and IUSSTF. It is located at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (Hanle), operated by IIA. We acknowledge funding by the IITB alumni batch of 1994, which partially supports the operations of the telescope. Telescope technical details are available at https://sites.google.com/view/growthindia/.
GCN Circular 35357
Subject
GRB 231215A: Enhanced Swift-XRT position
Date
2023-12-15T16:29:06Z (2 years ago)
From
Phil Evans at U of Leicester <pae9@star.le.ac.uk>
Via
email
M.R. Goad, J.P. Osborne, A.P. Beardmore and P.A. Evans (U. Leicester)
report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team.
Using 1725 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 4 UVOT
images for GRB 231215A, 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 = 9.73958, +57.64793 which is equivalent
to:
RA (J2000): 00h 38m 57.50s
Dec (J2000): +57d 38' 52.6"
with an uncertainty of 2.2 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.
GCN Circular 35361
Subject
GRB 231215A: AGILE detection
Date
2023-12-15T20:12:46Z (2 years ago)
From
Francesco Verrecchia at SSDC,INAF-OAR <francesco.verrecchia@ssdc.asi.it>
Via
email
F. Verrecchia (SSDC, and INAF/OAR), C. Casentini (INAF/IAPS), C.
Pittori (SSDC, and INAF/OAR), M. Tavani (INAF/IAPS, and Univ. Roma
Tor Vergata), A. Argan, M. Cardillo, Y. Evangelista, L. Foffano,
G. Piano (INAF/IAPS), L. Baroncelli, A. Bulgarelli, A. Ciabattoni,
A. Di Piano, V. Fioretti (INAF/OAS-Bologna), G. Panebianco (Univ.
Bologna - INAF/OAS Bologna), N. Parmiggiani (INAF/OAS-Bologna),
F. Lucarelli (SSDC, and INAF/OAR), P.W. Cattaneo (INFN Pavia), F.
Longo (Univ. Trieste, and INFN Trieste), M. Marisaldi
(INAF/OAS-Bologna, and Bergen University), M. Pilia, A. Trois
(INAF/OA-Cagliari), A. Ursi (ASI and INAF/IAPS), I. Donnarumma,
E. Menegoni (ASI), A. Giuliani (INAF/IASF-Mi), F. Cutrona (Univ.
Milano Bicocca) and P. Tempesta (TeleSpazio) report on behalf of
the AGILE Team:
The AGILE satellite detected the GRB 231215A at T0 = 2023-12-15
09:47:17.8 s (UTC), reported by Swift (GCNs #35343, #35345, #35357),
Mondy (GCN #35349), MITSuME (GCN #35351), Astrosat (GCN #35352),
HMT (GCN #35353), GROWTH (GCN #35354).
The event lasted about 12 s and it released a total number of 10990
counts in the MCAL detector RM (above a background rate of 548 Hz)
and 49280 counts in the AC-Top detector RM (above a background
rate of 2741 Hz). The AGILE ratemeters light curves can be
found at
http://www.agilescienceapp.it/notices/GRB231215A_AGILE_RM_ND.png .
The event also triggered a high time resolution MCAL data acquisition,
from T0-22 s s to T0+10 s (UTC), and released 8436 counts in the
detector, above a background rate of 510 Hz.
The MCAL light curve can be found at
http://www.agilescienceapp.it/notices/GRB231215A_086695_629718437.810000.png .
At the T0, the event was 148 deg off-axis.
Additional analysis of AGILE data is in progress. Automatic MCAL GRB
alert Notices can be found at: https://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/agile_mcal.html
GCN Circular 35362
Subject
GRB 231215A: AKO Optical Upper Limit
Date
2023-12-15T21:33:00Z (2 years ago)
From
Mohammad Odeh at Al Khatim Observatory M44 <mshodeh@gmail.com>
Via
legacy email
Mohammad Odeh (Al-Khatim Observatory, AKO, operated by the International
Astronomical Center in Abu Dhabi, UAE), and Dalya Akl (American University
of Sharjah, UAE), report:
We used our 0.36m f/7.7 robotic telescope to observe the field of GRB
231215A, which was detected by Swift (D'Avanzo et al., GCN 35343), and its
optical counterpart was detected by (Pankov et al., GCN 35349; Sasada et
al., GCN 35351; An et al., GCN 35353; Wagh et al., GCN 35354).
The observation was done on 15 December starting at 20:07:36 UT, which
corresponds to 10.34 hours after the GRB trigger time, using an (Ic)
filter. We obtained 17x180s images, and we didn't detect a credible source
within the uncertainty radius of the Swift-XRT position (Goad et al., GCN.
35357).
The following 5-sigma upper limit is calculated using the ATLAS catalog as
a reference:
Ic = 18.8
The magnitude is not corrected for Galactic extinction.
GCN Circular 35363
Subject
GRB 231215A: BOOTES-4/MET optical detection
Date
2023-12-15T21:36:53Z (2 years ago)
From
Youdong HU at IAA-CSIC <huyoudong072@hotmail.com>
Via
Web form
Y.-D. Hu, E. Fernandez-Garcia, I. Perez-Garcia, M.D. Caballero-Garcia, R. Sanchez-Ramirez, S. Guziy, S.-Y. Wu and A. J. Castro-Tirado (IAA-CSIC, Granada), C. Perez del Pulgar, A. Castellon, I. Carrasco (Univ. de Malaga) and D. R. Xiong, Y. F. Fan, J. M. Bai, C. J. Wang, Y. X. Xin, X. H. Zhao (Yunnan Observatories of CAS) on behalf of a larger collaboration, report:
Following the detection of GRB 231215A by Swift (D'Avanzo et al. GCNC 35343) and AGILE (Verrecchia et al. GCNC 35361), the 0.6m BOOTES-4/MET robotic telescope at Lijiang Astronomical Observatory (China) automatically responded to this burst starting on Dec. 15 at 14:11 UT (~4.4 hrs after trigger). A series of images in clear filter were gathered and the optical afterglow was detected within the enhanced Swift/XRT position (Goad et al. GCNC 35357) for which we measure a magnitude of 19.91 +- 0.14 on the co-added 60 s x 15 image, which is consistent with the detections of MASTER (Lipunov et al. GCNC 35347), Mondy (Pankov et al. GCNC 34349), MITSuME (Sasada et al. GCNC 35351), Nanshan/HMT (An et al. GCNC 35353) and GROWTH-India (Wagh et al. GCNC 35354). Further imaging is ongoing.
We thank the staff at Lijiang observatory for their excellent support.
GCN Circular 35364
Subject
GRB 231215A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis
Date
2023-12-15T22:14:28Z (2 years ago)
From
Phil Evans at U of Leicester <pae9@star.le.ac.uk>
Via
email
K.L. Page (U. Leicester), V. D'Elia (SSDC & INAF-OAR), B. Sbarufatti
(INAF-OAB), C. Salvaggio (INAF-OAB), D.N. Burrows (PSU), J. D. Gropp
(PSU), S. Dichiara (PSU), A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester) and P.A. Evans
report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team:
We have analysed 6.7 ks of XRT data for GRB 231215A, from 2.7 ks to
33.0 ks after the BAT trigger. The data are entirely in Photon
Counting (PC) mode.
The light curve can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay
index of alpha=1.95 (+0.10, -0.09).
A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed
power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.89 (+0.20, -0.13). The
best-fitting absorption column is 4.40 (+1.19, -0.15) x 10^21 cm^-2,
consistent with the Galactic value of 4.2 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 4.2 x 10^-11 (6.3 x
10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1.
A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus:
Total column: 4.40 (+1.19, -0.15) x 10^21 cm^-2
Galactic foreground: 4.2 x 10^21 cm^-2
Excess significance: <1.6 sigma
Photon index: 1.89 (+0.20, -0.13)
If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of
1.95, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 1.9 x 10^-3 count s^-1,
corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 8.1 x
10^-14 (1.2 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/01202522.
This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.
GCN Circular 35366
Subject
GRB 231215A: Swift/UVOT Detection
Date
2023-12-15T22:38:34Z (2 years ago)
From
Paul Kuin at MSSL <npkuin@gmail.com>
Via
email
N. P. M. Kuin (UCL-MSSL) and P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB)
report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team:
The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 231215A
2733 s after the BAT trigger (D'Avanzo et al., GCN Circ. 35343).
A source consistent with the XRT position (Goad et al., GCN Circ. 35357)
is detected in the initial UVOT exposures. The burst was also detected
by Fermi GBM (GCN Circ. 35344),Astrosat CZTI (Navaneeth et al., GCN
Circ. 35352), and in the optical by Master (Lipunov et al., 35347),
MONDY (Pankov et al. GCN Circ. 35349), MITSume Akeno (Sasada et al.,
GCN Circ. 35351), GROWTH-India (Wagh et al., GCN Circ 35354), BOOTES-4/MET
(Hu et al., GCN Circ 35363), HMT-Nanshang (An et al. GCN Circ. 35353) and
an upper limit from AKO (Odeh, GCN Circ. 36362).
The preliminary UVOT position is:
RA (J2000) = 00:38:57.52 = 9.73967 (deg.)
Dec (J2000) = +57:38:50.5 = 57.64735 (deg.)
with an estimated uncertainty of 0.45 arc sec. (radius, 90% confidence).
Preliminary detections and 3-sigma upper limits using the UVOT photometric
system
(Breeveld et al. 2011, AIP Conf. Proc. 1358, 373) for the early exposures
are:
Filter T_start(s) T_stop(s) Exp(s) Mag
white 2733 2883 147 18.10 +/- 0.05
v 3713 3912 197 17.48 +/- 0.08
b 3096 3296 197 18.63 +/- 0.09
u 2891 3091 197 18.17 +/- 0.10
w1 4124 4323 197 19.57 +/- 0.31
m2 3918 4117 197 >19.4
w2 3507 3707 197 >19.5
The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction
due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.506 in the direction of the burst
(Schlegel et al. 1998).
GCN Circular 35367
Subject
GRB 231215A : OHP/T193 optical afterglow detection
Date
2023-12-15T22:40:38Z (2 years ago)
From
Damien Turpin at CEA-Saclay <dturpin-astro@hotmail.com>
Via
Web form
D. Turpin (CEA Paris-Saclay), C. Adami (LAM), E. Le Floc'h, D. Götz, F. Schüssler (CEA Paris-Saclay), B. Schneider (MIT), S. Basa (Pytheas/OHP/LAM), A. Saccardi, S. D. Vergani (GEPI, Obs. de Paris), report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
We observed the field of the long GRB 231215A (D'Avanzo et al., GCN 35343) and its afterglow candidate (Evans et al. GCN 35345) using the T193cm telescope at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (France) equipped with the MISTRAL instrument. A total of 5 images were taken in r-band (total exposure = 3000s) and 3 others in the g-band (total exposure = 2100s) starting at 17:13:33.32 UT on 2023-12-15, ~7.43h after the trigger.
In the combined frames, we clearly detect the optical afterglow reported by Lipunov et al. GCN 35347, Pankov et al. GCN 35349, Sasada et al. GCN 35351, An et al. GCN 35353, Wagh et al. GCN 35354, Hu et al. GCN 35363. The preliminary magnitude derived are the following:
-----------------------------------------------
T-T0 (in days, midtime) | mag | filter
-----------------------------------------------
0.3302 | 21.32 ± 0.10 mag (AB) | r'
0.3795 | 21.76 ± 0.07 mag (AB) | g'
-----------------------------------------------
The photometric calibration was performed using nearby stars from the PanSTARRS catalog and magnitudes are not corrected for Galactic extinction.
Our results are compatibe with the fading behavior observed in previous GCN (Lipunov et al. GCN 35347, Pankov et al. GCN 35349, Sasada et al. GCN 35351, An et al. GCN 35353, Wagh et al. GCN 35354, Ferro et al. GCN 35355, Hu et al. GCN 35363). We note that the afterglow flux decay is steep with a temporal index alpha ~ 1.9. We encourage further follow-up observation with large telescopes to better characterize the flux and spectral evolution of this afterglow.
We acknowledge the excellent support from Observatoire de Haute-Provence, in particular Jean Balcaen for the MISTRAL observations and the SOPHIE observer Clément Ranc.
GCN Circular 35368
Subject
GRB 231215A: CALET Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor detection
Date
2023-12-16T03:33:37Z (2 years ago)
From
Yuta Kawakubo at Louisiana State University <kawakubo1@lsu.edu>
Via
Web form
N. Cannady (GSFC/UMBC), A. Yoshida, T. Sakamoto,
S. Sugita (AGU), Y. Kawakubo (LSU), K. Yamaoka (Nagoya U),
S. Nakahira (JAXA), Y. Asaoka (ICRR), S. Torii, Y. Akaike,
K. Kobayashi (Waseda U), T. Tamura, Y. Shimizu (Kanagawa U),
M. L. Cherry (LSU), S. Ricciarini (U of Florence),
P. S. Marrocchesi (U of Siena),
and the CALET collaboration:
The long GRB 231215A (Swift detection of a burst: D'Avanzo et al.,
GCN Circ. 35343; AstroSat CZTI detection: Navaneeth et al.,
GCN Circ. 35352; AGILE detection: Verrecchia et al., GCN Circ.
35361) triggered the CALET Gamma-ray Burst Monitor
(CGBM) at 09:47:15.26 UTC on 15 December 2023
(http://cgbm.calet.jp/cgbm_trigger/flight/1386668712/).
The burst signal was seen by all CGBM detectors.
The burst light curve shows a multi-peaked structure that starts
at T+1.5 sec, peaks at T+10.4 sec, and ends at T+20.4 sec.
The T90 and T50 durations measured by the SGM data are
15.2 +/- 1.3 sec and 5.6 +/- 0.2 sec (40-1000 keV), respectively.
The ground-processed light curve is available at
http://cgbm.calet.jp/cgbm_trigger/ground/1386668712/index.html
The CALET data used in this analysis are provided by
the Waseda CALET Operation Center located at Waseda University.
GCN Circular 35369
Subject
GRB 231215A: Fermi GBM observation
Date
2023-12-16T07:57:56Z (2 years ago)
From
Elisabetta Bissaldi at Politecnico and INFN Bari <elisabetta.bissaldi@ba.infn.it>
Via
email
E. Bissaldi (Politecnico and INFN Bari), P. Veres (UAH) and C. Meegan (UAH)
report on behalf of the Fermi GBM Team:
"At 09:47:17.81 UT on 15 December 2023, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GBM)
triggered and located GRB 231215A (trigger 724326442 / 231215408),
which was also detected by the Swift/BAT (D'Avanzo et al. 2023, GCN 35343).
The GBM on-ground location is consistent with the Swift position.
We note that the burst was automatically named incorrectly (GRB 231215B, GCN 35344),
likely because the GBM trigger differs from the BAT trigger by 8 s.
The angle from the Fermi LAT boresight
at the GBM trigger time is 111 degrees.
The GBM light curve consists of a single bright pulse
with a duration (T90) of about 16 s (50-300 keV).
The time-averaged spectrum from T0-1.8 s to T0+32 s is
best fit by a power law function with an exponential
high-energy cutoff. The power law index is 0.73 +/- 0.02 and
the cutoff energy, parameterized as Epeak, is 761 +/- 22 keV.
The event fluence (10-1000 keV) in this time interval is
(7.15 +/- 0.05)E-5 erg/cm^2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured
starting from T0+7.5 s in the 10-1000 keV band
is 20.3 +/- 0.4 ph/s/cm^2.
A Band function fits the spectrum equally well
with Epeak= 759 +/- 23 keV, alpha = -0.73 +/- 0.02
and beta = 4.7 +/- 1.4.
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/"
GCN Circular 35370
Subject
GRB 231215A: GAD Observatory, La Spezia, Italy upper limit;
Date
2023-12-16T11:12:34Z (2 years ago)
From
Claudio Lopresti <cl3lop@gmail.com>
Via
legacy email
Claudio Lopresti (Gruppo Astronomia Digitale - GAD Observatory, La Spezia, Italy) in collaboration with:
M.G. Dainotti (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Y. Niino (Tokyo University, Institute of Astronomy), K. Kalinowski (Aarhus University, Department of Physics and Astronomy), B. De Simone (Universita' degli Studi Di Salerno), Unione Astrofili Italiani (UAI)
report:
We imaged the field of GRB 231215A (trigger=1202522) with the telescope LX200 12” of GAD Observatory, La Spezia, Italy
Member of:
UAI/SSV - Unione Astrofili Italiani/sezione stelle variabili, GRB section.
GAD - Gruppo Astronomia Digitale.
The observations started 551 min after the GRB trigger, with a Shmidt-Cassegrain telescope D=304 mm with reducer F/D=4.75.
Weather conditions were medium.
The observation with a series of 60 sec exposures started at 2023-12-15 18:58:47 UT
We co-added 230 exposures of 60 sec each.
Start T0+ End T0+ R lim
551 min 815 min 17,99
We did not found any optical counterpart in 00:38:58.02 +57:38:47.2 position and in the error box of the XRT candidate.
ref.: P. D'Avanzo et al. GCN 35343, P.A. Evans et al. GCN 35345
Magnitudes were estimated with the Gaia EDR3 cat. and
are not corrected for galactic dust extinction.
Reference:
https://www.parcodellestelle.com/
The message may be cited.
GCN Circular 35373
Subject
GRB 231215A: Redshift from OSIRIS+ / GTC
Date
2023-12-16T12:43:06Z (2 years ago)
From
Christina Thöne at ASU-CAS <christina.thoene@gmail.com>
Via
Web form
C. C. Thoene (ASU-CAS), A. de Ugarte Postigo (CNRS/OCA and LAM), J. F. Agui Fernandez (CAHA), L. Izzo (INAF/Capodimonte), J. P. U. Fynbo (DAWN/NBI), N. R. Tanvir (U. Leicester), M. Blazek (CAHA), S. Geier, A. Cabrera-Lavers, Fabricio Perez Toledo and Miguel Rivero (all GTC) report:
We obtained spectroscopy of the afterglow of GRB 231215A (D’Avanzo et al. GCN 35343, Evans et al. GCN 35345, Pankov et al. GCN 35349) with OSIRIS+ at the 10.4m GTC at a mean epoch of 0.4958 days after the GRB. The observation consisted of 3x900s exposures with grism R1000B, covering the range between 3700 and 7780 AA at a resolving power of about 600.
The spectrum shows a strong but reddened continuum with multiple absorption features. The highest redshift features include Lyman alpha, SII 1250,53,59, SiII1260, 1304, OI1302, CII 1334, SiIV1393, 1402, CIV 1548, 1550, AlII1670, FeII 1608, 1611 at a common redshift of z=2.305. We also identify fine structure lines of SiII* 1264 and 1309 at the same redshift, which we hence assume as the redshift of the GRB. Additionally, we detect two intervening systems, at z=2.076 showing CIV and SiIV absorption and at z=0.574 showing the MgII 2796, 2803 doublet.
We thank the GTC staff for excellent support. This GRB reached Earth on the name's day of the first author.
GCN Circular 35375
Subject
GRB 231215A: NOT optical observations
Date
2023-12-16T16:50:36Z (2 years ago)
From
Zipei Zhu at NAOC <zpzhu@nao.cas.cn>
Via
email
Z. Zhu, J. An, D. Xu (NAOC), D. B. Malesani (DAWN/NBI), L. Izzo (INAF/Capodimonte), A. de Ugarte Postigo (CNRS/OCA and LAM), Z. Gray (NOT) report on behalf a large collaboration:
We observed the optical afterglow of GRB 231215A detected by Swift/BAT (D’Avanzo et al., GCN 35343, Evans et al., GCN 35345, Pankov et al., GCN 35349), using the 2.56-m Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) equipped with the ALFOSC camera. Observations started at 20:23:33 UT on 2023-12-15, i.e., 10.6 hr after the BAT trigger. We obtained 2x120 s in the Sloan r-band and then 2x1800 s spectroscopy.
The previously reported optical counterpart (e.g., Lipunov et al., GCN 35347, Pankov et al., GCN 35349