GRB 260208B
GCN Circular 43682
Subject
GRB 260208B: refined analysis of the EP-FXT observation
Date
2026-02-10T12:51:13Z (7 months ago)
From
EP Team at NAOC/CAS <ep_ta@bao.ac.cn>
Via
Web form
S. Q. Jiang, H. N. Yang, Y. L. Wang, Y. Liu (NAO, CAS), Z. H. Yang, Q. C. Zhao (IHEP, CAS) on behalf of the Einstein Probe (EP) team:
EP-FXT performed a follow-up observation on GRB 260208B (The Fermi GBM team, GCN 43638; Preis & Greiner, GCN 43639; Longo et al., GCN 43647; Sonawane et al., GCN 43649; Luo et al., GCN 43650; Harsha et al., GCN 43677) at 2026-02-09T06:37:35 (UTC), about 20.748 hours after the Fermi/GBM trigger.
With a 4.6 ks exposure, the afterglow (Li et al., GCN 43659; Magnani et al., GCN 43668; Beardmore et al., GCN 43671) is clearly detected by EP-FXT.
The average 0.5-10 keV spectrum can be fitted with an absorbed power law with a fixed Galactic hydrogen column density of 4.3 × 10^21 cm^-2, and a photon index of 2.01 (-0.21/+0.21). The derived average unabsorbed 0.5-10 keV flux is 7.28 (-0.81/+0.97) × 10^(-13) erg/s/cm^2. The uncertainties are at the 90% confidence level for the above parameters.
Compared to the flux reported by Swift/XRT (Beardmore et al., GCN 43671), the temporal decay index is approximately -1.4.
Launched on January 9, 2024, EP is a space X-ray observatory to monitor the soft X-ray sky with X-ray follow-up capability (Yuan et al. 2022, Handbook of X-ray and Gamma-ray Astrophysics).
GCN Circular 43677
Subject
GRB 260208B: AstroSat CZTI detection of a bright long burst
Date
2026-02-10T02:01:04Z (7 months ago)
From
Anuraag Arya at IIT Bombay <aryaanuraag910@gmail.com>
Via
Web form
Harsha K. H. (IUCAA), M. Tembhurnikar (IUCAA), S. Salunke (IUCAA), U. Pathak (IITB), A. Arya (IITB), A. Goyal (IITB), G. Waratkar (Caltech/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 ML pipeline (Abraham et al., 2021, MNRAS, 504, 3084) and the CIFT framework (Sharma et al., 2021, JApA, 42, 73) showed the detection of a long, bright GRB 260208B which was also detected by Fermi/GBM (Fermi GBM Team, GCN Circ. 43638), Fermi/LAT (F. Longo et al., GCN Circ. 43647), and SVOM/GRM (SVOM GRM Team, GCN Circ. 43650). We also see a relatively faint burst episode about 100 s after the initial bright burst in both CZT & CsI detectors.
The source was clearly detected in the CZT detectors in the 20-200 keV energy range. The light curve showed multiple peaks of emission with the strongest peak at 2026-02-08 09:52:59.50 UTC. The measured peak count rate associated with the burst is 1334 (+64, -68) counts/s above the background in the combined data of all quadrants, with a total of 14112 (+381, -416) counts. The local mean background count rate was 272 (+2, -3) counts/s. Using cumulative rates, we measure a T90 of 24 (+6, -2) s. In the preliminary analysis, we find 2125 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 multiple peaks of emission with the strongest peak at 2026-02-08 09:52:58.95 UTC. The measured peak count rate associated with the burst is 3595 (+111, -118) counts/s above the background in the combined data of all quadrants, with a total of 32443 (+740, -736) counts. The local mean background count rate was 1199 (+4, -5) counts/s. We measure a T90 of 22 (+1, -1) 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 43671
Subject
GRB 260208B: Swift-XRT observations
Date
2026-02-09T16:03:40Z (7 months ago)
From
Phil Evans at U of Leicester <pae9@star.le.ac.uk>
Via
email
A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester), P. D'Avanzo
(INAF-OAB), M.G. Bernardini (INAF-OAB), E. Ambrosi (INAF-IASFPA), J.A.
Kennea (PSU), D.N. Burrows (PSU), S. Lanava (PSU) and P.A. Evans (U.
Leicester) reports on behalf of the Swift-XRT team:
Swift-XRT has performed follow-up observations of the
Fermi/LAT-detected burst GRB 260208B, collecting 1.6 ks of Photon
Counting (PC) mode data between T0+33.1 ks and T0+44.4 ks.
One uncatalogued X-ray source has been detected within the estimated
3-sigma Fermi/LAT error region (354 arcsec), it is below the RASS limit
and shows no definitive signs of fading. Details of this source are
given below:
Source 1:
RA (J2000.0): 99.6189 = 06h 38m 28.55s
Dec (J2000.0): -13.7743 = -13d 46' 27.4"
Error: 3.1 arcsec (radius, 90% conf. [Enhanced position])
Count-rate: 0.0338 +/- 0.0067 ct s^-1
Distance: 238 arcsec from Fermi/LAT position.
Flux: (1.63 +/- 0.32)e-12 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (observed, 0.3-10 keV)
The flux reported by EP-WXT for this source at 74.7 ks after the
trigger (GCN Circ. 43663) is about a factor of 10 fainter than this XRT
measurement, however, which suggests it is indeed the GRB afterglow.
The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis of the XRT observations,
including a position-specific upper limit calculator, are available at
https://www.swift.ac.uk/ToO_GRBs/00021909. We note that the large
number of spurious sources was due to unusually high background.
This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.
GCN Circular 43668
Subject
GRB 260208B: COLIBRÍ optical observations
Date
2026-02-09T13:16:57Z (7 months ago)
From
F. Magnani at Aix-Marseille Université, CPPM/CNRS <francesco.magnani.work@gmail.com>
Via
Web form
Francesco Magnani (CPPM), Leonardo García García (UNAM), Jean-Grégoire Ducoin (CPPM), Alan M. Watson (UNAM), Stéphane Basa (UAR Pytheas), William H. Lee (UNAM), Edilberto Aguilar-Ruiz (UNAM), Jean-Luc Atteia (IRAP), Camila Angulo (UNAM), Dalya Akl (NYUAD), Sarah Antier (IJCLAB), Rosa L. Becerra (UNAM), Nathaniel R. Butler (ASU), Damien Dornic (CPPM), Francis Fortin (IRAP), Ramandeep Gill (UNAM), Noémie Globus (UNAM), Asuka Kuwata (UNAM), Nikos Mandarakas (LAM), Diego López-Cámara (UNAM), Enrique Moreno Méndez (UNAM), Margarita Pereyra (UNAM), Ny Avo Rakotondrainibe (LAM), Fredd Sánchez Álvarez (UNAM), Benjamin Schneider (LAM) and Antonio de Ugarte Postigo (LAM) report:
We imaged the field of the bright Fermi GRB 260208B (Fermi GBM Team, GCN Circ. 43638), also detected by SVOM/GRM (L. Xing-Hao, GCN Circ. 43650), using the DDRAGO two-channel wide-field imager on the COLIBRÍ telescope. We observed from 2026-02-09T05:10:25 to 2026-02-09T06:30:45 UTC (from 19.3 to 20.6 hours after the trigger) and obtained 30 minutes of simultaneous exposure in the r, 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 detect a source at the position of the SVOM/VT candidate (Li et al., GCN Circ. 43659), with the following preliminary magnitudes :
r = 22.61 +/- 0.14
z = 21.99 +/- 0.25
Further 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 43663
Subject
GRB 260208B: EP-FXT observation
Date
2026-02-09T11:06:20Z (7 months ago)
From
EP Team at NAOC/CAS <ep_ta@bao.ac.cn>
Via
Web form
S. Q. Jiang, H. N. Yang, Y. L. Wang, Y. Liu (NAO, CAS), Z. H. Yang, Q. C. Zhao (IHEP, CAS) on behalf of the Einstein Probe (EP) team:
EP-FXT performed a follow-up observation on GRB 260208B detected by Fermi/GBM (The Fermi GBM team, GCN 43638; Preis & Greiner, GCN 43639; Sonawane et al., GCN 43649), Fermi/LAT (Longo et al., GCN 43647) and SVOM/GRM (Luo et al., GCN 43650) at 2026-02-09T06:37:35 (UTC), about 20.748 hours after the Fermi/GBM trigger.
Two uncatalogued X-ray sources are detected around the Fermi/LAT error circle.
Preliminary informations are listed as follows:
Source 1: EPF_J063834.1-135348
RA (J2000): 99.6419
Dec (J2000): -13.8965
Flux: 1.12 x 10^-13 erg/cm^2/s (observed, 0.5-10 keV)
Source 2: EPF_J063827.9-134635
RA (J2000): 99.6162
Dec (J2000): -13.7764
Flux: 0.96 x 10^-13 erg/cm^2/s (observed, 0.5-10 keV)
The position is consistent with the source 1 detected by Swift-XRT (Evans et al., GCN 43651) and the optical candidate detected by SVOM/VT (Li et al., GCN 43659