Gamma-ray Burst 030204

(All information courtesy of the instrument teams.)

Previous IAU Circulars

• none

• GCN notice #1854
  K. Hurley and T. Cline, on behalf of the Ulysses, HETE, and Mars Odyssey GRB teams,
  I. Mitrofanov, D. Anfimov, A. Kozyrev, M. Litvak and A. Sanin, on behalf of the HEND-Odyssey GRB team,
  W. Boynton, C. Fellows, K. Harshman, C. Shinohara and R. Starr, on behalf of the GRS-Odyssey GRB team,
  A. von Kienlin, G. Lichti, and A. Rau, on behalf of the INTEGRAL SPI-ACS GRB team, and
  G. Ricker, J-L Atteia, N. Kawai, D. Lamb, S. Woosley, J. Doty, R. Vanderspek, J. Villasenor, G. Crew, G. Monnelly, N. Butler, J.G. Jernigan, A. Levine, F. Martel, E. Morgan, G. Prigozhin, J. Braga, R. Manchanda, G. Pizzichini, Y. Shirasaki, C. Graziani, M. Matsuoka, T. Tamagawa, K. Torii, T. Sakamoto, A. Yoshida, E. Fenimore, M. Galassi, T. Tavenner, T. Donaghy, M. Boer, J-F Olive, and J-P Dezalay, on behalf of the HETE GRB team, report:
  Ulysses, Mars Odyssey (HEND & GRS), INTEGRAL (SPI-ACS) and HETE (FREGATE) observed this burst at 45930 s. As observed by Ulysses, it had a duration of approximately 100 seconds, a 25-100 keV fluence of approximately 2.2E-05 erg/cm2, and a peak flux of approximately 1.1E-06 erg/cm2 s over 0.25 seconds.
  We have triangulated it to a preliminary, 3 sigma error box whose approximate area is 73 sq. arcmin. and whose coordinates are:

      RA(2000)                              DEC(2000)
   ERROR BOX CENTER:    0 h  3 m 20.47 s     32 o 43 '  36.92 " 
   ERROR BOX CORNER 1:  0 h  3 m 30.06 s     32 o 45 '  45.55 " 
   ERROR BOX CORNER 2:  0 h  4 m 26.15 s     32 o 40 '  18.06 " 
   ERROR BOX CORNER 3:  0 h  2 m 14.87 s     32 o 46 '  52.49 " 
   ERROR BOX CORNER 4:  0 h  3 m 10.89 s     32 o 41 '  28.22 " 
  

  This error box may be improved.
• GCN notice #1855
  V. Casanova, E. Rodriguez, A.J. Castro-Tirado (IAA-CSIC), J. Gorosabel (IAA-CSIC/STScI), J. M. Castro Ceron (STScI)
  report:
  "We have imaged a 7' x 7' region centred on the error box for GRB 020304 (Hurley et al., GCN 1854) with the 1.5-m telescope at Observatorio de Sierra Nevada in Granada, Spain. One unfiltred frame and one R-band frame (300-s exposure time each) were obtained on Feb 4.879 UT (i.e. 8.3 hours after the GRB) under poor meteorological conditions. When comparing to the DSS-2 (R-band), no optical counterpart is found down to a limiting magnitude of R = 19.7 in the central region (coverage ~35%) of the error box."
• GCN notice #1856
  M. Nysewander, M. Bayliss, H. Cheng, L. Johnson, J. Keohane, A. Reese, and D. Reichart (U. North Carolina) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
  We observed the entire ~73 square arcminute error box of GRB 030115 (GCN 1854) with the 0.6-meter Morehead Observatory telescope beginning 11.5 hours after the burst. We integrated in Rc for 1500 seconds per pointing x three pointings.
  Visual comparison with the DSS2-Red reveals no obvious new source to the limiting magnitude of the DSS.
• GCN notice #1858
  In GCN 1856, we observed GRB 030204, not GRB 030115.
  I apologize if this caused any confusion.
  Dan Reichart
  U. North Carolina
• GCN notice #1860
  A. Henden (USRA/USNO) reports on behalf of the USNO GRB team:
  We have acquired BVRcIc all-sky photometry for a 20x20 arcmin field covering the eastern two thirds of the IPN error box for GRB030204 (Hurley, et. al GCN 1584) with the USNOFS 1.0-m telescope on one photometric night. Stars brighter than V=12.5 are saturated and should be used with care. Conditions were clear but with poor seeing; estimated external zeropoint error is about 0.03mag. We have placed the photometric data on our anonymous ftp site: ftp://ftp.nofs.navy.mil/pub/outgoing/aah/grb/grb030204.dat. The astrometry in this file is based on linear plate solutions with respect to UCAC2. The external errors are less than 100mas.
  We do not anticipate additional nights of photometry on this field since no afterglow has been detected. However, as with all NOFS calibrations, check the dates on the file prior to final publication to ensure that you have the latest photometry.
• GCN notice #1861
  M. Nysewander (U. North Carolina), A. Henden (USRA/USNO), M. Lopez-Morales, D. Reichart (U. North Carolina), and M. Schwartz (Tenagra Observatories) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
  We observed the entire ~73 square arcminute error box of GRB 030204 (GCN 1854) beginning 11.5 hours after the burst (GCNs 1856, 1858) in BVRcIc and beginning 38.2 hours after the burst in Rc. Using the field calibration of Henden (GCN 1860), we report the following 3-sigma limiting magnitudes:

  Date      Mean Time   Filter  Integration  Limiting   Telescope*
             Since GRB           Time (sec)   Magnitude
             (hours)             x Pointings
  Feb 5.011  11.5       Rc      1500 x 3       20.0     0.6-meter MO
  Feb 5.042  12.2       Ic      3600 x 1       19.3     0.2-meter PST
  Feb 5.108  13.8       Rc      900 x 2        21.5     1.0-meter USNO
  Feb 5.133  14.4       B       480 x 2        22.0     1.0-meter USNO
  Feb 5.133  14.4       V       300 x 2        21.7     1.0-meter USNO
  Feb 6.122  38.2       Rc      1800 x 2       22.9     1.0-meter USNO
  Feb 6.124  38.2       Rc      2700 x 2       21.7     0.8-meter TII
  

  *MO = Morehead Observatory telescope; PST = Pisgah Survey Telescope at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI); TII = Tenagra II telescope.
  Using the image subtraction routine ISIS2 (Alard 2000), we find no transient sources in either of our Rc images of February 4th when compared to either of our Rc images of February 5th.
  Alard, C. 2000, A&AS 114, 363