GRB 251221A
GCN Circular 43234
Subject
GRB 251221A: Swift-BAT refined analysis
Date
2025-12-25T05:09:07Z (9 months ago)
From
Mike Moss at NASA GSFC <mikejmoss3@gmail.com>
Via
Web form
A. Y. Lien (U Tampa), E. Ambrosi (INAF-IASFPA),
S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), R. Gupta (GSFC),
H. A. Krimm (NSF), S. Laha (GSFC/UMBC),
C. B. Markwardt (GSFC), M. J. Moss (GSFC),
D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Parsotan (GSFC),
D. Sadaula (GSFC/UMBC), T. Sakamoto (AGU)
(i.e. the Swift-BAT team):
Using the data set from T-240 to T+962 sec from the recent telemetry downlink,
we report further analysis of BAT GRB 251221A (trigger #1426088)
(Ambrosi, et al., GCN Circ. 43166). The BAT ground-calculated position is
RA, Dec = 101.422, 0.738 deg which is
RA(J2000) = 06h 45m 41.4s
Dec(J2000) = +00d 44' 15.8"
with an uncertainty of 1.4 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment).
The partial coding was 42%.
The mask-weighted light curves displays a complicated multi-pulsed light curve.
The T90 (15-350 keV) is 56.86 +- 7.05 sec (estimated error including systematics).
The time-averaged spectrum from T-38.10 to T+27.74 sec is best fit by a simple
power-law model. The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is
1.25 +- 0.13. The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 2.0 +- 0.2 x 10^-06 erg/cm2.
The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T+2.91 sec in the 15-150 keV band
is 1.1 +- 0.2 ph/cm2/sec. All the quoted errors are at the 90% confidence
level.
The results of the batgrbproduct analysis are available at
https://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/results/batgrbcat/BAT_refined_circular/1426088
GCN Circular 43206
Subject
GRB251221A: 7DT optical upper limits
Date
2025-12-23T06:57:34Z (9 months ago)
Edited On
2025-12-23T16:19:59Z (9 months ago)
From
Donggeun Tak <donggeun.tak@gmail.com>
Edited By
Vidushi Sharma at NASA GSFC/UMBC <vidushi.sharma@nasa.gov> on behalf of Donggeun Tak <donggeun.tak@gmail.com>
Via
Web form
Donggeun Tak (SNU ARC/SNU), Myungshin Im (SNU ARC/SNU), YoungPyo Hong (SNU ARC/SNU), Hyeonho Choi (SNU ARC/SNU), Donghwan Hyun (SNU ARC/SNU), Gregory S.H. Paek (IfA, SNU ARC/SNU), Seo-Won Chang (SNU ARC/SNU), and Ji Hoon Kim (SNU ARC/SNU) report on behalf of the 7 Dimensional Telescope (7DT) team:
We report optical follow-up observations of GRB251221A (Fermi/GBM GCN 43164; Swift GCN 43166) conducted with the 7-Dimensional Telescope (7DT), located in Chile.
The 7DT follow-up observations began at 06:25:41 UTC on 2025-12-21, corresponding to approximately 1 hour after the trigger. The observations covered the target localization provided by Swift-XRT at RA, Dec = 101.42801 deg, 0.73241 deg, with an uncertainty radius of 2.1 arcseconds.
Initial observations were carried out using 12 telescope units with 20 medium-band filters as well as g-, r-, i-band filters (23 filters in total).
The following table summarizes (the observations and) the derived 5-sigma upper limits:
Filter Mag Mag_err Exposure Date Time
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
g >20.32 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:27:52.833
r >19.54 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:05.833
i >18.54 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:27:56.167
m400 >18.61 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:09.167
m425 >19.09 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:04.667
m450 >19.23 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:27:50.667
m475 >19.21 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:05.167
m500 >19.36 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:27:57.333
m525 >19.05 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:08.167
m550 >18.66 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:12.833
m575 >18.94 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:28:00.500
m600 >18.88 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:27:58.500
m625 >18.48 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:30.000
m650 >18.42 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:27:52.667
m675 >18.35 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:26.333
m700 >18.40 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:27:55.000
m725 >17.92 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:13.500
m750 >17.75 N/A 1200s 2025-12-21T06:31:10.667
m775 >17.28 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:04.000
m800 >17.14 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:27:53.333
m825 >16.85 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:34:06.000
m850 >16.69 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:27:51.667
m875 >16.14 N/A 600s 2025-12-21T06:27:54.167
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No significant transient event was identified in the preliminary result. Preliminary analysis yields 5 sigma limiting magnitudes in the range of 16.14 – 20.32 mag depending on sky brightness and airmass.
Photometric flux calibration was performed using synthetic photometry based on the Gaia DR3 XP catalog (Gaia Collaboration et al. 2022) within the AB magnitude system. Note that no extinction correction has been applied.
The 7-Dimensional Telescope (7DT), located in Chile and comprising 20 wide-field telescopes equipped with 40 medium-bandwidth (~25nm) filters, aims to detect optical counterparts of GW sources and conduct the 7-Dimensional Sky Survey (7DS) of the Southern Hemisphere. Further information about the 7DT is available at http://7ds.snu.ac.kr/ and http://gwuniverse.snu.ac.kr/.
GCN Circular 43183
Subject
GRB 251221A: PRIME near-infrared observation
Date
2025-12-22T16:02:42Z (9 months ago)
Edited On
2025-12-22T21:29:47Z (9 months ago)
From
N. Passaleva at Sapienza University of Rome <niccolo.passaleva@uniroma1.it>
Edited By
Vidushi Sharma at NASA GSFC/UMBC <vidushi.sharma@nasa.gov> on behalf of N. Passaleva at Sapienza University of Rome <niccolo.passaleva@uniroma1.it>
Via
Web form
N. Passaleva (U Rome), O. Guiffreda (UMD), M. El Kabir (U Rome), J. Durbak (UMD), E. Troja (U Rome), A. S. Kutyrev (NASA/GSFC), S. B. Cenko (NASA/GSFC)
Following the Fermi/Swift (Fermi GBM team, GCN 43164; Ambrosi et al., GCN 43166) detection, we observed the transient field in J and H filter with PRIME. Observations started ~15.5 hours after the initial trigger.
Using Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) nearby stars for preliminary calibration we detect an uncatalogued source at the position reported by Rakotondrainibe et al. (GCN 43168) and Volnova et al. (GCN 43180). We derived the following magnitudes not corrected for galactic extinction:
J = 20.27 ± 0.09
PRIME is a 1.8m telescope with 1.56 square degree FOV (0.5 arcsec/pixel) located in Sutherland, South Africa at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) (Kutyrev et al. 2023, Yama et al. 2023, Durbak et al. 2024).
We thank the Osaka University observers at PRIME and the staff at SAAO for their support with these observations.
GCN Circular 43180
Subject
GRB 251221A: UAFO and Mondy optical upper limit
Date
2025-12-22T12:03:11Z (9 months ago)
From
Alina Volnova at IKI RAS <alinusss@gmail.com>
Via
Web form
A. A. Volnova (IKI), A. Kochergin (UAFO IAA), E. Klunko (ISTP), A. S. Pozanenko (IKI), N. S. Pankov (HSE, IKI) report on behalf of IKI-GRB-FuN:
We observed the field of GRB 251221A (Fermi GBM team, GCN 43164; Ambrosi et al., GCN 43166) with the RC-500 (0.5m) telescope of Ussuriysk Astrophysical Observatory (UAFO) and with the AZT-33IK 1.5m telescope of the Sayan Solar Observatory (Mondy) taking several frames in R-band. The observations started on Dec. 21 at UT 15:18:04 with RC-500 and at UT 17:25:26, i.e., ~ 0.4-0.5 days after the Swift/BAT trigger. In the stacked images in the Swift/XRT error circle (Goad et al., GCN 43175) we do not detect the optical counterpart reported previously by Rakotondrainibe et al. (GCN 43168). Preliminary photometry and observational details are the following:
Date UT start t-T0 Exp. Filter Obj. Err. UL Site/Telescope fwhm"
(mid,days) (n*s) (3sigma)
2025-12-21 15:18:04 0.42900 60*60 R n/d n/d 19.7 UAFO/RC-500 2.7
2025-12-21 17:25:26 0.51314 18*120 R n/d n/d 22.1 Mondy/AZT-33IK 2.6
The photometry is based on several nearby stars from the USNO-B1 catalogue (R2 magnitudes) and is not corrected for the Galactic extinction.
GCN Circular 43179
Subject
GRB 251221A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis
Date
2025-12-22T05:38:12Z (9 months ago)
From
Phil Evans at U of Leicester <pae9@star.le.ac.uk>
Via
email
K.L. Page (U. Leicester), A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester), S. Campana
(INAF-OAB), A. Melandri (INAF-OAR), T. Sbarrato (INAF-OAB), S. Dichiara
(PSU), J.A. Kennea (PSU), D.N. Burrows (PSU) and P.A. Evans report on
behalf of the Swift-XRT team:
We have analysed 4.3 ks of XRT data for GRB 251221A, from 122 s to 56.3
ks after the trigger. The data comprise 8 s in Windowed Timing (WT)
mode (taken while Swift was slewing), with the remainder in Photon
Counting (PC) mode.
The light curve can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay
index of alpha=1.13 (+0.17, -0.14).
A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed
power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.49 (+0.19, -0.18). The
best-fitting absorption column is 1.11 (+0.24, -0.22) x 10^22 cm^-2,
in excess of the Galactic value of 7.3 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 6.8 x 10^-11 (9.5 x 10^-11) erg
cm^-2 count^-1.
A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus:
Total column: 1.11 (+0.24, -0.22) x 10^22 cm^-2
Galactic foreground: 7.3 x 10^21 cm^-2
Excess significance: 2.8 sigma
Photon index: 1.49 (+0.19, -0.18)
If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of
1.13, 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 1.3 x
10^-13 (1.8 x 10^-13) erg cm^-2 s^-1.
The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at
https://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/01426088.
This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.
GCN Circular 43177
Subject
GRB 251221A: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits
Date
2025-12-22T01:04:18Z (10 months ago)
From
Mike Siegel at PSU/Swift MOC <mhs18@psu.edu>
Via
Web form
M.H. Siegel (PSU) and Ambrosi (INAF-IASFPA) report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team:
The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 251221A 143 s after the BAT trigger (Ambrosi et al., GCN Circ. 43166). No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position (Goad et al., GCN Circ 43175) 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 143 292 147 >20.5
white 143 1541 366 >21.1
v 631 1584 65 >19.6
b 570 1521 45 >19.4
u 301 1497 169 >19.5
w1 680 1647 40 >19.1
m2 655 847 39 >19.5
w2 606 1572 78 >19.6
The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction
due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 1.088 in the direction of the burst
(Schlegel et al. 1998).
GCN Circular 43175
Subject
GRB 251221A: Enhanced Swift-XRT position
Date
2025-12-21T20:38:47Z (10 months 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 1499 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 2 UVOT
images for GRB 251221A, 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 = 101.42771, +0.73217 which is equivalent
to:
RA (J2000): 06h 45m 42.65s
Dec (J2000): +00d 43' 55.8"
with an uncertainty of 2.1 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence).
This position may be improved as more data are received. The latest
position can be viewed at https://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 43174
Subject
GRB 251221A: Fermi GBM Observation
Date
2025-12-21T20:13:03Z (10 months ago)
From
A. Holzmann Airasca at University of Trento and INFN Bari <a.holzmannairasca@unitn.it>
Via
Web form
A. Holzmann Airasca (UniTrento and INFN Bari) and S. Bala (USRA) report on behalf of
the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor Team:
"At 05:24:28.61 UT on 21 December 2025, the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM)
triggered and located GRB 251221A (trigger 787987473/251221225).
which was also detected by Swift (Ambrosi et al. 2025, GCN 43166