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Interplanetary Network Localization of GRB991208 and the Discovery of its Afterglow

K. Hurley·T. Cline·E. Mazets·R. Aptekar·S. Golenetskii·D. Frederiks·D. Frail·S. Kulkarni·J. Trombka·T. McClanahan·R. Starr·J. Goldsten
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Abstract

The extremely energetic (~10^-4 erg/cm^2) gamma-ray burst (GRB) of 1999 December 8 was triangulated to a ~14 sq. arcmin. error box ~1.8 d after its arrival at Earth with the 3rd interplanetary network (IPN), consisting of the Ulysses, Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), and WIND spacecraft. Radio observations with the Very Large Array ~2.7 d after the burst revealed a bright fading counterpart whose position is consistent with that of an optical transient source whose redshift is z=0.707. We present the time history, peak flux, fluence, and refined 1.3 sq. arcmin. error box of this event, and discuss its energetics. This is the first time that a counterpart has been found for a GRB localized only by the IPN.

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K. Hurley, T. Cline, E. Mazets, R. Aptekar, S. Golenetskii, D. Frederiks, D. Frail, S. Kulkarni, J. Trombka, T. McClanahan, R. Starr, J. Goldsten. 2000-03-16. Interplanetary Network Localization of GRB991208 and the Discovery of its Afterglow. https://doi.org/10.1086/312645

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