Hubble Space Telescope and Ground-Based Optical and Ultraviolet Observations of GRB010222

Abstract

We report on Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 optical and STIS near ultraviolet MAMA observations, and ground-based optical observations of GRB010222, spanning 15 hrs to 71 days. The observations are well-described by a relativistic blast-wave model with a hard electron-energy distribution, p = 1.57, and a jet transition at t_j=0.93 days. These values are slightly larger than previously found as a result of a correction for the contribution from the host galaxy to the late-time ground-based observations and the larger temporal baseline provided by the Hubble Space Telescope observations. The host galaxy is found to contain a very compact core (size <0.25 arcsec) which coincides with the position of the optical transient. The STIS near ultraviolet MAMA observations allow for an investigation of the extinction properties along the line of sight to GRB010222. We find that the far ultraviolet curvature component (c_4) is rather large. In combination with the low optical extinction A_V =0.11 mag, when compared to the Hydrogen column inferred from X-ray observations, we suggest that this is evidence for dust destruction.