Lotis, super-lotis, sloan digital sky survey, and tautenburg observations of GRB 010921

H. S. Park, G. G. Williams, D. H. Hartmann, D. Q. Lamb, B. C. Lee, D. L. Tucker, S. Klose, B. Stecklum, A. Henden, J. Adelman, S. D. Barthelmy, J. W. Briggs, J. Brinkmann, B. Chen, T. Cline, I. Csabai, N. Gehrels, M. Harvanek, G. S. Hennessy, K. HurleyŽeljko Ivezić, S. Kent, S. J. Kleinman, J. Krzesinski, K. Lindsay, D. Long, R. Nemiroff, E. H. Neilsen, A. Nitta, H. J. Newberg, P. R. Newman, D. Perez, W. Periera, D. P. Schneider, S. A. Snedden, C. Stoughton, D. E.Vanden Berk, D. York, K. Ziock

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

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).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)L131-L135
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume571
Issue number2 II
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2002

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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