GRB 260511A
GCN Circular 44686
H. Ban, T. Kato, K. Hotta, Y. Kawakubo, M. Serino, T. Sakamoto (AGU)
We observed the field of GRB 260511A detected by
the Fermi/GBM (Fermi GBM Team, GCN Circ. 44529),
the SVOM/ECLAIRs (Godet et al., GCN Circ. 44532),
the NuSTAR CsI anti-coincidence shields (Waratkar et al., GCN Circ. 44555),
the Konus-Wind (Ridnaia et al., GCN Circ. 44585),
the Glowbug (Woolf et al., GCN Circ. 44586), and
the GRID (Li et al., GCN Circ. 44664)
with the iTelescope.Net (http://www.itelescope.net) T75 (ASAN250) telescope
located at Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile.
We took 20 images of 60 sec exposures in the Red filter starting from
May 11 at 06:37:27 (UT), about 24 minutes after the Fermi/GBM trigger
and stopped at 07:07:42.
The afterglow (Jiang et al., GCN Circ. 44533; Akl et al., GCN Circ. 44534;
Saccardi et al., GCN Circ. 44535; Zheng et al., GCN Circ. 44536;
Wu et al., GCN Circ. 44538; Harper et al., GCN Circ. 44545;
Brivio et al., GCN Circ. 44562; Li et al., GCN Circ. 44575;
Fu et al., GCN Circ. 44579; Zhu et al., GCN Circ. 44584) is detected
in the stacked image of the first eight images (total exposure of 480 s)
collected between 06:37:27 and 06:49:12. The afterglow magnitude is
19.3 +- 0.6 using the USNO-B1 catalog. No afterglow was detected in
the following twelve images collected between 06:49:44 and 07:07:42.
The 5-sigma upper limit of the stacked image of the last twelve images
(total exposure of 720 s) is 18.3 mag.
GCN Circular 44664
Longhao Li, Siqi Wu, Chenyu Wang, report on behalf of the GRID Collaboration:
GRID-10B and GRID-11B reports the detection of the long-duration GRB 260511A, which was also detected by Fermi GBM (GCN Circular 44529), SVOM (GCN Circular 44532), NuSTAR(GCN Circular 44555), MASS-Cube(GCN Circular 44584), Konus-Wind (GCN Circular 44585), Glowbug(GCN Circular 44586).
The event was triggered with GRID on 2026-05-11 at 06:13:30 UTC. The measured burst duration (T90) in the 30-2000 keV range is approximately T90 = 26.0 +/- 1.3 seconds.
The GRID light curve of this event can be found at https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/GRID/data/GRID-GCN/GRB260511A/GRID_260511A_ltcv.pdf.
GRID is a student-led project to monitor the transient gamma-ray sky with multiple detectors onboard different nanosatellites in the era of multi-messenger astronomy. For more information about GRID, please refer to the following references: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-019-09636-w and https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-021-09819-4.
GCN Circular 44586
R. Woolf, C.C. Cheung, M. Kerr, J.E. Grove (NRL), A. Goldstein (USRA), C.A. Wilson-Hodge, D. Kocevski (MSFC), and M.S. Briggs (UAH) report:
The Glowbug gamma-ray telescope [1,2,3], operating on the International Space Station, reports the detection of GRB 260511A, which was also detected by Fermi GBM (GCN 44529), SVOM (GCN 44532), NuSTAR (GCN 44555), and Konus–Wind (GCN 44585).
Using an adaptive window with a resolution of 32-ms, the burst onset is determined to be 2026-05-11 06:13:28.904 with a duration of 11.3 s and a total significance of about 41.6 sigma. The light curve comprises three primary peaks from T0 to ~T0+11s.
The analysis results presented here are preliminary and use a response function that lacks a detailed characterization of the surrounding passive structure of the ISS.
Glowbug is a NASA-funded technology demonstrator for sensitive, low-cost gamma-ray transient telescopes developed, built, and operated by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with support from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, USRA, and NASA MSFC. It was launched on 2023 March 15 aboard the Department of Defense Space Test Program’s STP-H9 to the ISS and operated until 2024 April when it was put in safe storage on orbit. Glowbug was removed from storage and resumed operation on 2025 September 12.
[1] Grove, J.E. et al. 2020, Proc. Yamada Conf. LXXI, arXiv:2009.11959
[2] Woolf, R.S. et al. 2022, Proc. SPIE, 12181, id. 121811O
[3] Woolf, R.S. et al. 2024, Proc. SPIE, 13151, id. 1315108
Distribution Statement A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.
GCN Circular 44585
A. Ridnaia, D. Frederiks, A. Lysenko, D. Svinkin,
A. Tsvetkova, M. Ulanov, and T. Cline,
on behalf of the Konus-Wind team, report:
The long-duration GRB 260511A
(Fermi-GBM detection: Fermi GBM team, GCN 44529;
Roberts et al., GCN 44548;
BALROG localization: Preis & Greiner, GCN 44531;
SVOM detection: Godet et al., GCN 44532;
NuSTAR detection: Waratkar et al., GCN 44555)
triggered Konus-Wind at T0=22416.401 s UT (06:13:36.401).
The burst light curve shows a multipeaked structure
which starts at ~T0-4.6 s and has a total duration of ~20.5 s.
The emission is seen up to ~6 MeV.
The Konus-Wind light curve of this GRB is available at
http://www.ioffe.ru/LEA/GRBs/GRB260511_T22416/
As observed by Konus-Wind, the burst
had a fluence of 1.72(-0.05,+0.05)x10^-5 erg/cm2,
and a 64-ms peak flux, measured from T0+0.482 s,
of 6.96(-0.71,+0.71)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+16.640 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 = -0.79(-0.08,+0.09)
and Ep = 187(-8,+8) keV (chi2 = 107/99 dof).
Fitting by a GRB (Band) model yields the same alpha and Ep,
and an upper limit on the high energy photon index: beta < -3.1
(chi2 = 107/98 dof).
The spectrum near the maximum count rate
(measured from T0+0.256 to T0+8.448 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 = -0.66(-0.08,+0.08)
and Ep = 187(-6,+7) keV (chi2 = 88/86 dof).
Fitting by a GRB (Band) model yields the same alpha and Ep,
and an upper limit on the high energy photon index: beta < -2.9
(chi2 = 87/85 dof).
All the quoted errors are at the 68% confidence level.
All the quoted values are preliminary.
GCN Circular 44584
Jiahuan Zhu, Chenyu Wang, Xutao Zheng, Hao Chang, Zirui Yang report on behalf of the MASS-Cube Collaboration:
MASS-Cube reports the detection of the long-duration GRB 260511A, which was also observed by Fermi/GBM (GCN #44548, #44548), SVOM (GCN #44532) and GRID. The optical counterpart was detected by TRT (GCN #44533).
The event was triggered by MASS-Cube on 2026-05-11 at 06:13:29.2 UTC. The measured burst duration (T90) in the 50-10000 keV range is approximately 9.7 +/- 2.3 seconds. The second peak is not clearly detected by MASS-Cube due to its limited sensitivity.
The MASS-Cube light curve of this event can be found at https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/GRID/data/GRID-GCN/GRB260511A/MASS_Cube_260511A_ltcv.pdf.
MASS-Cube is a pathfinder for a 3D position-sensitive Compton telescope in space, currently considered the next generation of the GRID constellation in the era of multi-messenger astronomy. For more information about MASS-Cube, please refer to the following reference: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-024-09920-4.
GCN Circular 44579
S.-Y. Fu (HUST), X. Tian (GXU), H.-N. Yang, Z.-X. Ling (NAOC, CAS) on behalf of the Einstein Probe (EP) team:
EP-FXT performed a follow-up observation of the SVOM/ECLAIRs-detected burst GRB 260511A (SVOM/sb26051101, Godet et al., GCN 44532), which also triggered Fermi-GBM (Fermi GBM team, GCN 44529). The follow-up obervation started at 2026-05-11T07:00:13 UTC, approximately 46.7 minutes after the SVOM trigger, with a total exposure time of 2.2ks.
On-ground analysis of the FXT data found an uncatalogued fading source at R.A., Dec. = 197.8992, -33.8042 (J2000) with an uncertainty of about 10 arcsec (radius, 90% C.L. statistical and systematic) near the ECLAIRs error circle. This position is consistent with the optical counterpart reported by TRT (Jiang et al., GCN 44533) and FM-GFT (Akl et al. GCN 44534). The average FXT 0.3-10 keV spectrum can be fitted with an absorbed power-law model, with the hydrogen column density fixed at the Galactic value, adittional hydrogen column density of 5.9 (+-1.3) ×10^20 cm^-2, and a photon index of 1.93 +- 0.05. The derived average unabsorbed flux in the 0.3-10 keV band is 6.33 (+-0.18)×10^-11 erg s^-1 cm^-2.
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 44575
H. L. Li, C. Wu, Y. L. Qiu, L. P. Xin, Y. N. Ma, Z. H. Yao, J. R. Xu, X. H. Han, J. Wang, Y. Xu, P. P. Zhang, W. J. Xie, Y. J. Xiao, H. B. Cai, L. Lan, J. S. Deng, J. Y. Wei (NAOC), J. Palmerio (CEA/Irfu) report on behalf of the SVOM/VT team.
SVOM/VT performed ToO observations of GRB260511A triggered by SVOM/ECLAIRs (sb26051101, Godet et al., GCN 44532). The burst was also detected by Fermi/GBM (Fermi GBM team, GCN 44529; Preis et al., GCN 44531; Preis et al., GCN 44531; Roberts et al., GCN 44548) and NuSTAR (Waratkar et al. GCN 44555). The observation started at 2026-05-11T22:13:58 UTC, about 16.0 hours post trigger in the VT_B (400-650 nm) and VT_R (650-1000 nm) channels simultaneously.
The afterglow (Jiang et al., GCN 44533; Akl et al. GCN 44534; Saccardi et al. GCN 44535; Zheng et al. GCN 44536; Wu et al., GCN 44538, Harper et al., GCN 44545; Brivio et al., GCN 44562) was detected in stack images of both channels. The following measurements are in the AB magnitude and are not corrected for Galactic extinction:
Mid time | Band | Exposure Time | Brightness
18.00 h VT_B 35*70 s 23.43 +/- 0.27 mag
18.00 h VT_R 39*70 s 21.82 +/- 0.13 mag
The Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is a China-France joint mission led by the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA, China), National Center for Space Studies (CNES, France) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, China), which is dedicated to observing gamma-ray bursts and other transient phenomena in the energetic universe. VT was jointly developed by Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics (XIOPM), CAS and National astronomical observatories (NAOC), CAS.
GCN Circular 44562
R. Brivio, M. Ferro, P. D'Avanzo, S. Covino, D. Fugazza (INAF-OAB), A. Melandri (INAF-OAR) report on behalf of the REM team:
We observed the field of GRB 260511A, detected by SVOM/ECLAIRs (Godet et al., GCN 44532) and Fermi/GBM (Fermi GBM Team, GCN 44529) with the REM 60 cm robotic telescope located at the ESO observatory of La Silla (Chile).
The observations were carried out in the H band, started on 2026-05-11 at 06:15:22 UT (i.e. 110 s after the burst) and lasted for about 10 minutes.
From preliminary photometry, we detect the optical/NIR counterpart (Jiang et al., GCN 44533; Akl et al. GCN 44534; Saccardi et al. GCN 44535; Zheng et al. GCN 44536; Wu et al., GCN 44538, Harper et al., GCN 44545) with the following magnitude:
H = 12.9 +/- 0.2 (Vega; calibrated against the 2MASS catalogue),
at a mid-time of 115 s after the trigger.
GCN Circular 44555
G. Waratkar (Caltech) and B. Grefenstette (Caltech) report on behalf of the NuSTAR Search for INteresting Gamma-ray Signals (SINGS) working group:
The NuSTAR SINGS working group reports the detection of prompt emission from the long-duration GRB 260511A in both the NuSTAR CsI anti-coincidence shields. Details of the search algorithm will be described in a future paper.
The NuSTAR SINGS algorithm, triggered at 2026-05-11T06:13:30.0 UTC, shows a detection of GRB 260511A, also detected by Fermi/GBM (Fermi GBM Team, GCN 44529) and SVOM (Godet et al., GCN 44532).
The NuSTAR CsI shield data are recorded at 1 Hz. We detect a ~10-s burst consistent with Fermi/GBM. The peak count rate is ~3500-cps with a baseline rate of ~1000-cps during this time period. We do not see evidence in the signal above 100 keV in the CZT detectors.
The optical counterpart candidate (Akl et al., GCN 44534) at RA = 197.8996, Dec = -33.80446 implies an offset from the NuSTAR boresight of 57-deg and an offset from the geocenter of 144-deg.
Lightcurves and analysis for this GRB can be found here:
https://nustarsoc.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/grbs/reports/2026/260511A
Information on NuSTAR SINGS can be found here:
https://nustarsoc.caltech.edu/NuSTAR_Public/grbs/
NuSTAR is a NASA Small Explorer mission led by Caltech and managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
GCN Circular 44548
O.J. Roberts (Uni. Of Galway, Ireland) reports on behalf of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor Team:
"At 06:13:30.286 UT on 11 May 2026, the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM)
triggered and located GRB 260511A (trigger 800172815/260511259), which was
also detected by SVOM /ECLAIRs and MXT (Godet et al. 2026, GCN 44532), with
an optical counterpart was initially detected by Colibri (Akl et al. 2026, GCN 44534).
The angle from the Fermi LAT boresight is 118 degrees.
The GBM light curve consists of a two bright emission episodes with a duration (T90)
of about 14 s (50-300 keV). The time-averaged spectrum from T0-0.26 to T0+18.43 s is
best fit by a Band function, with Epeak = 166 +/- 9 keV, alpha = -0.66 +/- 0.05,
and beta = -2.31 +/- 0.07.
The event fluence (10-1000 keV) in this time interval is
(1.973 +/- 0.032) E-05 erg/cm^2. The 1-s peak photon flux measured
starting from T0+2.6 s in the 10-1000 keV band is 27.3 +/- 0.5 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/"
GCN Circular 44545
H. Harper (UTAS), K. Siellez (UTAS), B. Emptage (UTAS), K. Hill (UTAS), T. Plunkett (UTAS), A. Cole (UTAS), J.-P. Beaulieu (IAP/UTAS) report:
We observed the field of the SVOM/ECLAIRs and Fermi/GBM GRB 260511A (Godet et al., GCN 44532; Fermi GBM Team, GCN 44529) with the Harlingten 50cm (H50) at Greenhill Observatory, University of Tasmania (UTGO).
Our observation started on 2026-05-11 at 08:58:59UT, ~165 minutes after Fermi trigger Observations. We obtained 11 x 120s exposure in the SDSS r’ filter.
The optical counterpart (Jiang et al., GCN 44533; Akl et al. GCN 44534; Saccardi et al. GCN 44535; Zheng et al. GCN 44536; Wu et al., GCN 44538) is clearly detected in our stacked images at RA = 13:11:35.9244 (J2000) (197.8996850 deg) and Dec = -33:48:15.887 (J2000) (-33.8044130 deg) with an uncertainty of ~0.4 arcsec.
All the data have been reduced by our UTGO pipeline (Plunkett et al. 2025), image subtraction was performed using STDpipe (Karpov 2025). We measured the following magnitude not corrected for Galactic extinction:
r = 20.68 +/- 0.12 AB (mid time ~176minutes after trigger)
Refined processing and more observations are still ongoing.
GCN Circular 44538
C. Wu (NAOC), J. T. Palmerio (CEA/Irfu), Y.N. Ma, L. P. Xin, Y. L. Qiu, H. L. Li (NAOC), L. Zhang (IHEP), D. F. Kong (GXU) on behalf of the SVOM/VT team.
After the trigger by SVOM/ECLAIRs at 2026-05-11T06:13:32 UTC (T0), SVOM performed an automatic slew on the burst location ( Godet et al., GCN 44532; Fermi GBM team, GCN 44529