GRB 250920C
GCN Circular 42600
Daniel Shy (a), C.C. Cheung (a), Bernard Phlips (a), Michael Streicher (b), James Mason (b), Douglas M. Groves (b), Feng Zhang (b), Willy Kaye (b)
(a) U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Ave SW, Washington, DC 20375
(b) H3D, Inc., 812 Avis Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA
The cadmium zinc TElluride Radiation Imager (TERI) gamma-ray telescope [1], operating on the International Space Station, reports the detection of GRB 250920C, which was also detected by Fermi/GBM (GCN 41903, 41917), Swift/BAT (GCN 41904, 41924), SVOM (GCN 41929), and Konus-Wind (GCN 41957).
Using 1 Hz binning and adopting T0 = 2025-09-20T15:25:17.06, we observe the three main peaks as seen in the Fermi/GBM lightcurve (GCN 41903) at ~T0+0.5s, ~T0+26.5, and ~T0+36.5s with respective peak excess count rates of roughly 35, 57, and 44 counts per second (cps) above the baseline rate observed in nearby off-source intervals.
The analysis results presented here are preliminary and currently lack a detailed response function.
TERI is an Office of Naval Research funded technology demonstrator for large-volume pixelated CdZnTe detectors developed, built, and operated by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in conjunction with H3D, Inc. The pixelated CdZnTe detectors have an energy range of 40 keV to 3 MeV per pixel. It was launched on 2025 April 21 aboard the Department of Defense Space Test Program’s STP-H10 to the ISS. On the ISS, it is located on the SOX external payload facility on the Columbus module. Analysis of TERI data at NRL is supported under contract with NASA as correlative science for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
[1] Shy, Daniel, et al. "Development of the cadmium zinc TElluride Radiation Imager." Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 10.4 (2024): 044009-044009 (arXiv:2408.04559).
Distribution Statement A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.
GCN Circular 42009
V. Ghiraldo, J. Basurto Merino, P.G. Berdayes, A. Caballero-Almagro, A. Cerón, M. Contreras, F. Díaz-Segado, T. Ferrer-Laviña, B. Gandolfi, J. Hernández Fung, L. Juliá-Maroto, E. Lekaroz-Urriza, M. Manzano García, E. Mejía-Martínez, J. Prieto Polo, M. Pulido-Torres, M. Quintana-Ansaldo, A. Schenone-Zanuzzi, A. Selezneva, T. Tundidor Rodríguez, E. Urquijo-Rodríguez (all ULL), M. Abdul-Masih (IAC and ULL), and I. Pérez-Fournon (IAC and ULL).
We report on a Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) 40-cm telescope early observation of the long-duration Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 250920C, detected by Fermi (Fermi GBM team, GCN circ. 41903; and Mailyan et al., GCN circ. 41917), Swift (Gupta et al., GCN circ. 41904; Kuin et al., GCN circ. 41920; Goad et al., GCN circ. 41922; Gupta et al., GCN circ. 41924; and D'Ai et al. GCN circ. 41935), SVOM (Wang et al., GCN circ. 41929), and Konus-Wind (Panteleeva et al., GCN circ. 41957).
We observed the field of GRB 250920C with one of the two LCO 40-cm telescopes (Planewave Delta Rho 350 telescopes equipped with CMOS QHY600 cameras) located at the LCO node at Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia. The observation, a single exposure of 300 sec in the SDSS r filter, started on 2025-09-20 at 17:21:51 UT, about 1.94 hours after the Fermi and Swift trigger. The optical and near-infrared counterpart reported first by Wortley et al. using GOTO (GCN circ. 41907) and with observations by several other groups (GCN circ. 41911, GCN circ. 41913, GCN circ. 41916, GCN circ. 41920, GCN circ. 41925, GCN circ. 41928, GCN circ. 41943, GCN circ. 41947, GCN circ. 41951, GCN circ. 41952, GCN circ. 41955, GCN circ. 41956, GCN circ. 41965, and GCN circ. 41967) is clearly detected in our image, with a magnitude of r = 18.77 +/- 0.10, calibrated against PanSTARRS-1 DR2 and not corrected for galactic extinction, that is consistent with another reported r-band detection at a similar epoch.
A redshift of z = 1.399 - 1.40 has been measured by Sánchez-Ramírez et al. (GCN circ. 41928), de Wet et al. (GCN circ. 41952), and Izzo et al. (GCN circ. 41955).
Based on observations made with the Las Cumbres Observatory’s education network telescopes that were upgraded through generous support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (program IAC2025B-010). These observations are part of a course in Astrophysical Techniques of the Master in Astrophysics of the Astrophysics Department of the University of La Laguna in collaboration with the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain).
GCN Circular 41967
M. Freeberg (KNC), C. Andrade(UMN), D. Turpin (CEA-Saclay/Irfu), S. Antier (OCA/IJCLab), M. Coughlin (UMN),S. Karpov (FZU), P. Hello (IJCLAB), M. Pillas (IAP) on behalf of the GRANDMA/Kilonova-Catcher collaboration:
We observed the field of GRB 250920C detected by Fermi/GBM (Fermi GBM team, GCN 41903), Swift/BAT (Gupta et al., GCN 41904), SVOM/GRM (Wang et al., GCN 41929) and Konus-WIND (Panteleeva et al., GCN 41957) with the GRANDMA citizen science project Kilonova-catcher (KNC). Our observations were performed with the iTelescope T30 telescope operated by M. Freeberg. Our observations started at TGRB+3.3hr.
In our stacked frames, subtracted from the PanSTARRS DR2 template image, we detect the optical/IR counterpart reported by GOTO (Wortley et al., GCN 41907) and further confirmed by many other teams (Strausbaugh et al.,GCN 41911; Ghosh et al., GCN 41913; Kuin et al., GCN 41920; Mohan et al., GCN 41925; Sanchez-Ramirez et al., GCN 41928; Guiffreda et al., GCN 41943; Mo et al., GCN 41947; de Ugarte Postigo et al., GCN 41951; de Wet et al., GCN 41952; Izzo et al., GCN 41955; Zheng et al., GCN 41956; Zhu et al., GCN 41965)
We report some of our first image follow-up results in the table below
+---------------+----------+-----------+----------------+--------------+
| Tmid-TGRB (hr)| Exp (s) | Filter | Magnitude | Instrument |
+===============+==========+===========+================+==============+
| 3.49 | 3 x 300s | Rc (Vega) | 18.93 +/- 0.07 | iT30 |
+---------------+----------+-----------+----------------+--------------+
All the data have been reduced by a single data processing pipeline, STDPipe (Karpov et al., 2022). Images obtained with the Johnson-cousins filters were calibrated using the GAIA DR3 synphot catalog.
We use the SkyPortal application (skyportal.io) to monitor our observational campaign (Coughlin et al. 2023).
GRANDMA is a worldwide telescope network (grandma.ijclab.in2p3.fr) devoted to the observation of transients in the context of multi-messenger astrophysics (Antier et al. 2020 MNRAS 497, 5518). Kilonova-Catcher (KNC) is the citizen science program of GRANDMA (http://kilonovacatcher.in2p3.fr/).
GCN Circular 41965
Z.P. Zhu (NAOC), K. Noysena, K. Chanchaiworawit, S. Tinyanont (NARIT), S.Y. Fu (HUST), L.B. He, X. Liu, J. An, S.Q. Jiang, D. Xu (NAOC) report on behalf of a large collaboration:
We observed the field of GRB 250920C (Fermi GBM team, GCN 41903; Gupta et al., GCN 41904; Mailyan & Meegan, GCN 41917; Gupta et al., GCN 41924; Wang et al., GCN 41929; Panteleeva et al., GCN 41957 ), using the 0.7-m telescope of the Thai Robotic Telescope network (TRT), located at New South Wales, Australia (SBO). Observations started at 18:21:14 UTC on 2025-09-20, i.e., ~ 2.9 hours after the Swift/BAT trigger and a series of frames in the R band were obtained.
The optical afterglow (Wortley et al., GCN 41907; Strausbaugh et al., GCN 41911; Ghosh et al., GCN 41913; Kuin et al., GCN 41920; Mohan et al., GCN 41925; Sanchez-Ramirez et al., GCN 41928; Guiffreda et al., GCN 41943; de Ugarte Postigo et al., GCN 41951; de Wet et al., GCN 41952; Izzo et al., GCN 41955; Zheng & Filippenko, GCN 41956; ) was clearly detected in our stacked R-band frame with a brightness of 18.87 +/- 0.02, calibrated with Pan-STARRS DR2 catalog and not corrected for Galactic extinction.
GCN Circular 41957
V. Panteleeva, D. Frederiks, A. Lysenko, A. Ridnaia, D. Svinkin,
A. Tsvetkova, M. Ulanov, and T. Cline,
on behalf of the Konus-Wind team, report:
The long-duration GRB 250920C (Fermi-GBM detection:
The Fermi GBM team, GCN 41903; Mailyan & Meegan, GCN 41917;
Swift-BAT detection: Gupta et al., GCN 41904; Gupta et al., GCN 41924;
SVOM-GRM observaion: Wang et al., GCN 41929)
triggered Konus-Wind at T0=55519.312 s UT (15:25:19.312).
The burst light curve shows a multipeaked structure
which starts at ~T0-0.4 s and has a total duration of ~41 s.
The emission is seen up to ~2 MeV.
The Konus-Wind light curve of this GRB is available at
http://www.ioffe.ru/LEA/GRBs/GRB250920_T55519/
As observed by Konus-Wind, the burst
had the total fluence of 2.91(-0.21,+0.29)x10^-5 erg/cm2,
and the 64-ms peak flux, measured from T0+25.904 s,
of 8.27(-0.78,+0.78)x10^-6 erg/cm2/s
(both in the 20 keV - 10 MeV energy range).
The time-averaged spectrum of the burst
(measured from T0 to T0+41.216 s)
is best fit in the 20 keV - 10 MeV range
by the GRB (Band) model with the following parameters:
the low-energy photon index alpha = -1.22(-0.07,+0.09),
the high energy photon index beta = -3.19(-6.81,+0.51),
the peak energy Ep = 160(-12,+9) keV
(chi2 = 104/97 dof).
The spectrum near the maximum count rate
(measured from T0+24.832 to T0+33.024 s)
is best fit in the 20 keV - 10 MeV range
by a power law with exponential cutoff model:
dN/dE ~ (E^alpha)*exp(-E*(2+alpha)/Ep)
with alpha = -1.14(-0.07,+0.07)
and Ep = 220(-14,+16) keV (chi2 = 96/81 dof).
Fitting by a GRB (Band) model yields the same alpha and Ep,
and an upper limit on the high energy photon index: beta < -3.15
(chi2 = 97/80 dof).
Assuming the redshift z=1.399 (Sanchez-Ramirez et al., GCN 41928;
Izzo et al., GCN 41955)
and a standard cosmology with H_0 = 67.3 km/s/Mpc, Omega_M = 0.315,
and Omega_Lambda = 0.685 (Planck Collaboration, 2014),
we estimate the following rest-frame parameters:
the isotropic energy release E_iso is 1.54(-0.11,+0.16)x10^53 erg,
the peak luminosity L_iso is 1.05(-0.10,+0.10)x10^53 erg/s,
the rest-frame peak energy of the time-averaged spectrum
Ep,i,z is 383(-30,+22) keV and the spectrum near the maximum count rate
Ep,p,z is 528(-33,+38) keV.
With the obtained estimates, GRB 250920C is inside 68% prediction bands for
both the 'Amati' and the 'Yonetoku' relations derived for the sample of >300 long
KW GRBs with known redshifts (Tsvetkova et al., 2017; Tsvetkova et al., 2021),
see http://www.ioffe.ru/LEA/GRBs/GRB250920_T55519/GRB250920C_rest_frame.pdf
All the quoted errors are at the 68% confidence level.
All the quoted values are preliminary.
GCN Circular 41956
WeiKang Zheng (UCB) and Alexei V. Filippenko (UCB) report on
behalf of the KAIT GRB team:
The 0.76-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT), located at
Lick Observatory, observed the field of GRB 250920C (Fermi GBM
team, GCN 41903; Gupta et al., GCN 41904; Mailyan et al., GCN 41917;
Gupta et al., GCN 41924; SVOM Team, GCN 41929) around mid time of
~0.778d after the burst. A set of 90x60s clear (roughly R) filter
images were obtained. We marginally detected the optical afterglow
(Wortley et al., GCN 41907; Strausbaugh et al., GCN 41911; Ghosh
et al., GCN 41913; Lipunov et al., GCN 41916; Kuin et al., GCN 41920;
Mohan et al., GCN 41925; Sanchez-Ramirez et al., GCN 41928;
Guiffreda et al., GCN 41943; de Ugarte Postigo et al., GCN 41951).
We estimate the afterglow to be 21.0 +/- 0.3 mag (Vega).
GCN Circular 41955
L. Izzo (INAF/OACn and DARK/NBI), D. Xu (NAOC), V. Abril-Melgarejo (LUX-Paris Obs.), G. Corcoran (UCD), D. B. Malesani (DAWN/NBI and Radboud), A. Martin-Carrillo (UCD), N. R. Tanvir (Leicester), V. D’Elia (ASI/SSDC), report on behalf of the Stargate collaboration:
We observed the optical afterglow (Wortley et al., GCN 41907) of GRB 250920C (Gupta et al., GCN 41904), using the ESO VLT UT4 (Yepun) equipped with the MUSE spectrograph. The mid time of our observation was Jan 21.209 UT (10.41 hr after the GRB trigger), and consisted of 4 exposures of 19 min each.
We extracted a 1D spectrum using a circular aperture of 0.4 arcsec radius, centered on the afterglow emission. In the reduced spectrum, which covers the wavelength range 4750 - 9330 AA, we detect clear continuum and a number of absorption features, which we identify, among others, as Mg II, Mg I, Fe II, Fe II*, Ni II*, Cr II, Zn II, Mn II, all at a common redshift z = 1.399. The detection of Fe II fine-structure lines cements the association of the GRB with this absorption system. Furthermore, an emission line consistent with [O II] at the same redshift is also detected, likely from the underlying host galaxy (Wortley et al., GCN 41907).
Our result is thus fully consistent, and strengthens, the previous reports by GTC (Sanchez-Ramirez et al., GCN 41928) and SALT (De Wet et al.. GCN 41952).
We acknowledge expert support from the observing staff in Paranal, in particular Boris Haeussler, Enrico Congiu, Ana Jimenez Gallardo, and Marcelo Lopez.
GCN Circular 41952
S. de Wet (DTU Space), D. A. H. Buckley (SAAO), D. B. Malesani (DAWN/NBI and Radboud), P. J. Groot (Radboud, UCT, and SAAO) report:
We observed the optical afterglow (Wortley et al., GCN 41907) of GRB 250920C (Gupta et al., GCN 41904), using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) equipped with the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS). Observations started at 23:11:13 UT on 2025 Sep 20 (7.8 hr after the GRB), and consisted of 2x1200 s of spectroscopy using the PG700 grating (which covers the wavelength range 3600-7500 AA).
In the coadded spectrum, continuum is detected across the whole wavelength range. A few narrow absorption features are visible which we interpret as due to C IV 1548,1550 (very strong), Fe II 2344 and 2374, Mg II 2796,2803 and Mg I 2852, all at a redshift of 1.399. Our result is thus consistent with, and confirms, the earlier measurement reported by Sanchez-Ramirez et al. (GCN 41928) using the GTC.
GCN Circular 41951
Antonio de Ugarte Postigo (LAM), Diego López-Cámara (UNAM), Jean-Grégoire Ducoin (CPPM), Stéphane Basa (UAR Pytheas), William H. Lee (UNAM), Alan M. Watson (UNAM), Jean-Luc Atteia (IRAP), Fredd Alvarez (UNAM), Camila Angulo (UNAM), Dalya Akl (NYUAD), Sarah Antier (OCA), Rosa L. Becerra (U Roma), Nathaniel R. Butler (ASU), Damien Dornic (CPPM), Francis Fortin (IRAP), Leonardo García García (UNAM), Ramandeep Gill (UNAM), Noémie Globus (UNAM), Kin Ocelotl López (UNAM), Francesco Magnani (CPPM), Enrique Moreno Méndez (UNAM), Margarita Pereyra (UNAM), Ny Avo Rakotondrainibe (LAM), and Benjamin Schneider (LAM):
We imaged the field of the Fermi/GBM GRB 250920C (Fermi GBM team, GCN Circ. 41903; Mailyan
et al. GCN 41917), also detected by Swift/BAT (Gupta et al. GCN 41904; Gupta et al. GCN 41924) and SVOM/GRM (Wang et al. GCN 41929) using the DDRAGO two-channel wide-field imager on the COLIBRÍ telescope. We observed from 2025-09-23 08:01:47 to 10:19:49 UTC (from 2.69 to 2.75 days after the trigger) and obtained 64 minutes of simultaneous exposures in the r and z filters.
The data were reduced and coadded with the COLIBRÍ pipeline and analysed with STDWeb/STDPipe (Karpov 2025). The photometry was calibrated using nearby stars from the PanSTARRS DR1 catalog, is in the AB system, and is not corrected for Galactic extinction.
We detected the optical counterpart reported by Wortley et al. (GCN Circ. 41907), at preliminary magnitudes of:
r = 22.70 +/- 0.14
z = 22.54 +/- 0.25
We note that the source is still significantly brighter than the candidate host galaxy identified by Wortley et al. (GCN Circ. 41907) which appears in the Legacy Survey with r ~ 25.1 mag, so our observations are still afterglow dominated.
Further observations and analysis are ongoing.
We thank the staff of the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional on the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir and the COLIBRÍ and DDRAGO engineering teams.
COLIBRÍ is an astronomical observatory developed and operated jointly by France (AMU, CNES and CNRS) and Mexico (UNAM and SECIHTI). It is located at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional on the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir, Baja California, Mexico.
GCN Circular 41947
Geoffrey Mo (Caltech/Carnegie), Tomas Ahumada (Caltech), Viraj Karambelkar (Columbia), Benjamin Schneider (LAM), Robert Stein (UMD), Danielle Frostig (CfA), Nathan Lourie (MIT), Robert Simcoe (MIT), and Mansi Kasliwal (Caltech) report:
We observed the field of GRB 250920C (Fermi GBM Team, GCN 41903