@article{0908e214e87740078bf412b1dfa14fda,
title = "Lotis, super-lotis, sloan digital sky survey, and tautenburg observations of GRB 010921",
abstract = "We present multi-instrument optical observations of the High Energy Transient Explorer (HETE-2) and Interplanetary Network error box of GRB 010921. This event was the first gamma-ray burst (GRB) partly localized by HETE-2 that has resulted in the detection of an optical afterglow. In this Letter, we report the earliest known observations of the GRB 010921 field, taken with the 0.11 m Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System (LOTIS) telescope, and the earliest known detection of the GRB 010921 optical afterglow, using the 0.5 m Sloan Digital Sky Survey Photometric Telescope (SDSS PT). Observations with the LOTIS telescope began during a routine sky patrol 52 minutes after the burst. Observations were made with the SDSS PT, the 0.6 m Super-LOTIS telescope, and the 1.34 m Tautenburg Schmidt telescope 21.3, 21.8, and 37.5 hr, respectively, after the GRB. In addition, the host galaxy was observed with the US Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station 1.0 m telescope 56 days after the burst. We find that at later times (t > 1 day after the burst), the optical afterglow exhibited a power-law decline with a slope of α = 1.75 ± 0.28. However, our earliest observations show that this power-law decline cannot have extended to early times (t < 0.035 days).",
author = "Park, {H. S.} and Williams, {G. G.} and Hartmann, {D. H.} and Lamb, {D. Q.} and Lee, {B. C.} and Tucker, {D. L.} and S. Klose and B. Stecklum and A. Henden and J. Adelman and Barthelmy, {S. D.} and Briggs, {J. W.} and J. Brinkmann and B. Chen and T. Cline and I. Csabai and N. Gehrels and M. Harvanek and Hennessy, {G. S.} and K. Hurley and {\v Z}eljko Ivezi{\'c} and S. Kent and Kleinman, {S. J.} and J. Krzesinski and K. Lindsay and D. Long and R. Nemiroff and Neilsen, {E. H.} and A. Nitta and Newberg, {H. J.} and Newman, {P. R.} and D. Perez and W. Periera and Schneider, {D. P.} and Snedden, {S. A.} and C. Stoughton and Berk, {D. E.Vanden} and D. York and K. Ziock",
note = "Funding Information: Support for LOTIS and Super-LOTIS is provided by NASA (S-03975G and S-57797F) under the auspices of the US Department of Energy by University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (W-7405-Eng-48). The SDSS is a joint project of The University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, The Johns Hopkins University, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics, New Mexico State University, Princeton University, USNO, and the University of Washington. Apache Point Observatory, site of the SDSS telescopes, is operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium. Funding has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the SDSS member institutions, NASA, the NSF, the US Department of Energy, Monbukogabusho, and the Max Planck Society. K. Hurley is grateful for Ulysses support (JPL 958059) and for HETE support (MIT-SC-R-293291).",
year = "2002",
month = jun,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1086/341334",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "571",
pages = "L131--L135",
journal = "Astrophysical Journal",
issn = "0004-637X",
publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",
number = "2 II",
}