Gamma-ray Burst 000529

On May 29, 2000 at 08:43:11 UT a strong burst was detected by BeppoSAX, Ulysses and NEAR.

(All information courtesy of the instrument teams.)

Previous IAU Circulars

• none

• BeppoSAX mail n.00/12
  On May 29 at 08:43:11 UT a strong burst (GRB000529) was detected by GRBM and WFC2 (2-26 keV).
  The position is:

  R.A.= 2.282
  Decl.= -61.527
   

  with an error radius of 6'
• BeppoSAX mail n.00/13 and GCN notice #676
  Refined WFC position of GRB000529 is:

  R.A.= 2.348
  Decl.= -61.531
  

  with an error radius of 4'.
• GCN notice #678
  K. Hurley, T. Cline, F. Frontera, C. Guidorzi, E. Montanari, and E. Mazets report:
  NEAR, Konus, and the BeppoSAX GRBM observed this burst (GCN #676). (The NEAR XGRS detector has been turned back on and is operating nominally; Ulysses data will not be available until tomorrow due to the Memorial Day holiday). Triangulation gives an annulus centered at RA(2000)=312.943 deg., Decl.(2000)=-26.625 deg., with radius 47.850 +/- 0.171 degrees (3 sigma). This is consistent with, but does not further constrain, the BeppoSAX WFC error box. The addition of Ulysses data is expected to improve this localization.
• GCN notice #680
  K. Hurley, on behalf of the Ulysses GRB team, T. Cline, on behalf of the NEAR and KONUS GRB teams, F. Frontera, C. Guidorzi, and E. Montanari, on behalf of the BeppoSAX GRBM teams, and E. Mazets and S. Golenetskii, on behalf of the KONUS-WIND GRB teams, report:
  The Ulysses data for this burst (GCN #676) have been processed, and the triangulation has been completed (GCN #678). The Ulysses/ Earth annulus is centered at RA(2000)=129.603, Decl.(2000)=-33.077, and has a radius 76.204 +/- 0.054 deg. This annulus intersects the BeppoSAX WFC error circle at two points (RA, Decl.= 2.217, -61.555 and RA, Decl.=2.406,-61.470) and reduces its area by ~30%. A map has been posted at ssl.berkeley.edu/ipn3/000529. Further refinement to this annulus is possible.
• GCN notice #682
  Paul Price, Tim Axelrod and Brian Schmidt report
  We have observed the error circle of GRB000529 (BeppoSAX mail 00/13) with the 50-inch telescope at Mount Stromlo Observatory. Exposure was 3 x 300s, starting at May 30.74 UT, with a limiting magnitude of R_M ~ 19.75 (where R_M refers to the MACHO red band). We find no OT candidate on comparison with the DSS.
• GCN notice #684 = BeppoSAX MAIL n. 00/15
  A BeppoSAX follow up of GRB000529 with the Narrow Field Instruments started around May 29 at 16:10 UT, i.e. about 7.5 hours after the GRB.
  A preliminary analysis of the MECS (1.6-10 keV) data shows a possibly fading source in the field.

  R.A.(2000)= 2.451
  DEC(2000)= -61.465
  

  with an error radius of 2'.
  A more detailed analysis is in progress.
• GCN notice #685
  M. Feroci, G. Gandolfi, E. Costa, L. Piro, P. Soffitta (IAS, CNR, Rome), L.A. Antonelli (OAR, Rome), L. Salotti (ASI, Rome), A. Coletta, G. Celidonio, G. D'Andreta, M.R. Daniele, M. Stornelli (Telespazio, Rome), F. Frontera, E. Pian (ITESRE, CNR, Bologna), L. Nicastro (IFCAI, CNR, Palermo), J.J.M. in 't Zand, J. Heise, M.J. Smith, J.M. Muller (SRON, Utrecht), on behalf of the BeppoSAX GRB Team, report:
  The WFC error box (GCN #676) of GRB 000529 was observed by the Narrow Field Instruments starting about 7.5 hours after the GRB. A preliminary analysis of the first 23 ks of this observation reveals a previously unknown weak X-ray source, 1SAX J0009.8-6128 at the position RA = 00h 09m 48.3s Dec = -61d 27' 53", with a conservative error radius of 2 arcminutes. No other source is significantly detected in the field. By dividing the available observation in two portions, the source is detected only in the first ~11ks with a count rate of (4.1+-1.0)E-3 count/s, corresponding to 2.8E-13 erg/cm2/s (assuming a Crab-like energy spectrum). The lack of source detection in the second ~12ks makes the new source a reasonable candidate as the X-ray afterglow of GRB 000529. The position lies at 4.9 arcminutes from the WFC refined error box, and it therefore only partially overlaps with it. We note that the position of the NFI source is consistent with the IPN annulus for this GRB (GCN #680). This message may be quoted in publications.
• GCN notice #699
  E. Palazzi, N. Masetti, E. Pian, F. Frontera (ITESRE, CNR, Bologna), A.J. Castro-Tirado (LAEFF, IAA), J. Hjorth (Univ. of Copenhagen), E. Rol, E.P.J. van den Heuvel (Univ. of Amsterdam), J. Greiner (AIP), O. Marco, J. Brewer and O. Hainaut (ESO), J.A.R. Caldwell (SAAO, observing on behalf of the PLANET collaboration), N. Suntzeff (CTIO), and M. Feroci (IAS, CNR, Rome), on behalf of a larger collaboration, report:
  Optical R-band images of the X-ray afterglow error box (GCNs #684, #685) of GRB000529 (GCN #676) were acquired at three different epochs with four telescopes as reported in the following table:

       (UT)          Telescope      Texp(sec)   Seeing(")   R_lim(3-sigma)  
   
   2000 May 31.15     SAAO 1m         3000        1.4         22.7
        May 31.44     CTIO 4m          900        1.0         24.0
        May 31.44     ESO 2.2m         600        1.0         22.7
        Jun  3.42     ESO NTT          100        1.4         22.3
  

  Photometric calibration was performed using standard stars in the Landolt T Phe sequence (Landolt 1992, AJ 104, 340). Comparison of the images with the DSS-II red survey does not reveal any new object above the DSS limit (R~21.5). Unfortunately not all the images did cover the whole error box. The comparison among the overlapping regions of the acquired frames at the different epochs does not reveal any object with significant brightness variation down to a 3-sigma limiting magnitude of R ~22.3.