Gamma-ray Burst 000615

On June 15, 2000 at 06:18:24 UT a burst was detected by the GRBM and WFC aboard BeppoSAX.

(All information courtesy of the instrument teams.)

Previous IAU Circulars

• none

• GCN notice #703 = BeppoSAX Mail n.00/16
  On June 15, 6:18:24 U.T. a GRB (GRB000615) has been detected simulteosly by the GRBM and WFC aboard BeppoSAX.
  Preliminary coordinates from WFC are:

  R.A.(2000)= 233.141
  DEC(2000)= +73.795
  

  The error radius at this stage of analysis is 5'.
  A follow-up observation with the NFI is being planned.
• GCN notice #705 = BeppoSAX Mail n.00/17
  Refined coordinates of GRB000615 from WFC are:

  R.A.(2000)= 233.168
  DEC(2000)= +73.848
  

  The error radius is 2'.
• GCN notice #706
  K. Z. Stanek (CfA), P. M. Garnavich (Notre Dame) and P. Berlind (FLWO) report:
  We have observed the BeppoSAX error-box of GRB000615 (GCN 703) using the FLWO 1.2-meter telescope on Mt. Hopkins. The center of the revised error-box (GCN 705) is located at Galactic coordinates (l,b)=(109.58 deg, 38.81 deg), and the Schlegel et al. (1998) Galactic reddening toward this direction is very small, E(B-V)=0.024 mag (A_R=0.063 mag). The stellar field is relatively sparse in this direction.
  We obtained two 300 sec R-band images, starting at UT June 15 10:30 (i.e. about 4 hours 12 minutes after the detection by BeppoSAX) followed by one 600 sec R-band image starting at UT June 15 10:42. Visual comparison of our combined 1200 sec R-band image with the POSS-II red plate, which reaches about R~20.0 mag, reveals no obvious ``new'' objects. Using DAOPHOT-II (Stetson 1992) on our combined R-band image we detect about 180 objects with R<20.0 mag in 11x11 arcmin field.
  The combined R-band image of the error-box can be seen at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/oir/Research/GRB/.
  Further observations are planned at FLWO.
• GCN notice #707 = BeppoSAX Mail n.00/18
  A BeppoSAX follow up of GRB000615 with the Narrow Field Instruments started around June 15 at 16:20 UT, i.e. about 10 hours after the GRB.
  A quick look analysis of first orbits MECS (1.6-10 keV) data shows a faint and previously unknown source inside the field.
  The coordinates are:

  R.A.(2000)= 233.058
  DEC(2000)= 73.814
  

  with a 1.5' error radius. This object may be compatible with a radio source from NVSS Catalogue 1.3' away (RA: 233.043, DEC: 73.835) and not necessarily associated to the GRB.
• GCN notice #709
  K. Z. Stanek (CfA), P. M. Garnavich (Notre Dame), S. Jha (CfA) and P. Berlind (FLWO) report:
  We have obtained additional images of the BeppoSAX error-box of GRB000615 (GCNs 703, 705) using the FLWO 1.2-meter telescope on Mt. Hopkins. We obtained two 4x300 sec R-band image sequences, with the first sequence starting at UT June 16 04:19, and the second starting at UT June 16 10:19. As was the case with our first night images (GCN 706), visual comparison of these new images with the POSS-II red plate, which reaches about R~20.0 mag, reveals no obvious new objects.
  In addition, by comparing our images from the two nights we are able to place much stronger limit on any variable optical afterglow of GRB000615. Employing the image subtraction code ISIS-2 (Alard 1999) between the two nights reveals no variable objects brighter than about R~21.5. Using DAOPHOT-II (Stetson 1992) we detect about 350 objects with R<21.5 mag in 11x11 arcmin field.
  Our FLWO R-band fits images from both nights can be accessed from ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/kstanek/GRB000615/.
  We find one possible variable object detected in the first night images, which is not present in the second night images. It is located near at RA=15:33:06.04, DEC=+73:49:46.4 (J2000.0; uncertainty +/- 0.3"; x=431.7, y=614.5 in the "ff1003" image), and its brightness is about R~21.6 (calibrated using the USNO R-band magnitudes). However, as the object seems to move slightly in the first night images, we DO NOT think it is the GRB afterglow.
  Further observations are planned at FLWO.
• GCN notice #713
  S. Klose, B. Stecklum (Thueringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg), O. Fischer (Universitaets-Sternwarte Jena), J. Greiner (AIP Potsdam), S. Hippler (Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Heidelberg), R. Davies (Max-Planck-Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, Garching), L. Montoya (Calar Alto observatory), F. J. Vrba, A. A. Henden, C. B. Luginbuhl, B. Canzian, S. E. Levine, H. H. Guetter, J. A. Munn (U.S. Naval Observatory, Flagstaff), D. H. Hartmann (Clemson University, Clemson), A. Castro-Tirado (LAEFF-INTA, Madrid, and IAA-CSIC, Granada), J. Gorosabel (DSRI, Copenhagen), J. M. Castro-Ceron (ROA), and M. R. Zapatero-Osorio, D. M. Delgado, S. Chueca, M. J. Arevalo (IAC, Tenerife) report:
  The refined error box of GRB 000615 (Gandolfi et al. GCN #705) was imaged in two successive runs with the Calar Alto 3.5-m telescope on June 15, 22:09 UT - 00:25 UT using the near-infrared camera Omega Cass in the polarimetric mode. The limiting magnitude of either K'-band image is about K'=19 after adding all frames taken at different position angles of the wire-grid polarizer.
  A red source in the GRB error box with no counterpart on the DSS-2 red image is at RA, DEC (J2000) = 15:32:35.16, 73:50:45.2 (+/- 1 arcsec). We estimate its magnitude K'=19. Further data reduction is in progress, the K'-band magnitude can be improved. This source is also barely visible on an R-band image taken at USNO with the 1.0-m telescope on June 16, 03:48 UT (limiting magnitude about R=21). It is also visible as a faint source on an I-band image taken with the IAC 80 telescope on June 15.9 UT (limiting magnitude about 20.5).
  We note we do not claim that this is a fading source, since second epoch K'-band data are not available. At the present stage we cannot rule out that this is a faint Galactic star with an R-K color of about 2 mag. The image is available from http://www.tls-tautenburg.de/research/grb000615.html.
• GCN notice #719
  A. Di Paola, L.A. Antonelli, F. D'Alessio, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Italy, A. Arkarov, V. Larionov, Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory, Russia, on behalf of a larger collaboration report:
  We have obtained further images of the BeppoSAX revised error-box of GRB000615 (GCN 705) using the AZT-24 1.1-meter telescope at Campo Imperatore (AQ). We obtained two J-band images. A 1200 sec image with a limiting magnitude of J=20.1 mag started at June 18.9375 UT. A 3600 sec image with a limiting magnitude of J=20.7 mag starting at June 19.9229. A comparison of these new images with the previous observation (GCN 708) reveals no obvious fading objects in the field.
  We detect in both observations the object reported by Klose et al. (GCN 709) at position RA = 15:32:35.16, DEC = 73:50:45.2 (J2000) and we estimate its magnitudes compatible with J= 19.1 +/- 0.3 mag in all the observations.
• GCN notice #721
  D. A. Frail (NRAO), K. M. Becker (Oberlin), and E. Berger (Caltech) report on behalf of the Caltech-NRAO-CARA GRB collaboration:
  We have observed the error box of GRB000615 (GCN #693) with the VLA at 8.46 GHz on three occasions: June 15.92, June 17.17, and June 20.13 UT. There are no radio sources in the WFC error circle (GCN #705) brighter than 150 microJy (i.e. 4 to 5 sigma).
• GCN notice #727
  E. Pian, N. Masetti, E. Palazzi, F. Frontera (ITESRE, CNR, Bologna), F. Ghinassi, J. Licandro (TNG, La Palma) and G. Gandolfi (IAS, CNR, Rome), on behalf of a larger collaboration, report:
  Infrared H-band images of the refined error box of GRB000615 (Gandolfi et al., GCN #705), were acquired on June 15.968, 16.2083 and 16.927 UT at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) plus ARNICA (ARcetri Near Infrared CAmera) in La Palma (Canary Island, Spain), with total on-source times of 5 min for the first two observations and 10 min for the third. Seeing was 1 arcsec in the three epochs.
  Photometric calibration was performed using standard stars AS30-0 (Hunt et al., 1998, AJ 115, 2594). The comparison among the three sets, as well as between the sum of the images of the first two epochs with the observation obtained on the third epoch (acquired on the following night) does not show any object with significant brightness variations (at 3-sigma significance) down to H ~ 20.5 .
  The object reported by Klose et al. (GCN #713) is well detected in our three sets of images with no variations from a measured magnitude H = 19.6 +-0.3.
• X-ray properties from BSAX in Nicastro et al, 2002, Proc. 2nd Rome workshop ``Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Afterglow Era'' (astro-ph/0104131)