Gamma-ray Burst 990705

On July 5, 1999 a GRB was detected by the BeppoSAX GRBM and WFC instruments.

(All information courtesy of the instrument teams.)

Previous IAU Circulars

• IAUC 7218 WFC discovery

• BeppoSAX GRB alert n. 99/16
  On July 5, 16:01:25 UT a GRB (GRB990705) was detected simultaneously by the GRBM and WFC of BeppoSAX.
  Preliminary coordinates from WFC are:

  R.A.(2000)= 77.382
  DEC(2000)= -72.145
  

  Due to the less-than-optimal attitude configuration the error radius is of about 6'
  A follow-on with NFI is being planned
• BeppoSAX GRB alert n. 99/17
  Refined coordinates of GRB990705 are :

  R.A.(2000)=77.467
  DEC(2000)= -72.134
  

  The error radius is now of 3'.
  A follow-up with NFI is in progress.
• GCN notice #368
  S. G. Djorgovski, S. R. Kulkarni, F. A. Harrison, J. S. Bloom (Caltech), D. A. Frail (NRAO), M. Feroci, L. Piro, E. Costa, and F. Frontera (for the BeppoSAX team), report on behalf of the Caltech-NRAO-BeppoSAX GRB collaboration:
  We note that GRB990705 (BeppoSAX mail # 99/16 and 99/17) is seen in projection at the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The nearest catalogued LMC object (on the sky) is a planetary nebula MPGN LMC 25, which is about 17 arcmin away (and well outside the SAX X-ray error circle). If the burst is indeed located in the LMC or its halo, a search for a neutrino signal coincident with, or just prior to the GRB even would be most interesting.
• BeppoSAX GRB alert n. 99/18 = GCN notice #373
  Giangiacomo Gandolfi, on behalf of BeppoSAX Mission Scientist, reports: A BeppoSAX follow-up of GRB990705 started about 11 hr after the burst. A quick look analysis of the first five orbits of the MECS data at SOC shows only one object, previously unknown, inside the refined error circle of the WFC and located near the edge of the LMC.
  Preliminary coordinates are:

   R.A.(2000)= 77.489
   DEC(2000)= -72.132
   

  The error radius is 2'
  BeppoSAX will continue its observation and monitoring of this source up to a total observing time of 100 ksec.
• GCN notice #376
  R. Subrahmanyan (ATNF), S.J. Cunningham (ATNF), M.H. Wieringa (ATNF), D. A. Frail (NRAO) and S. R. Kulkarni (Caltech) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
  "We obtained a 12 hour integration with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) centered on July 6.33 UT at 4.8 GHz and 8.6 GHz. The ATCA was pointed at the BeppoSAX WFC position of GRB 990705 as given by Frontera (BeppoSAX mail #99/17).
  Within the 3-arcmin WFC error circle there are three sources above 5 sigma, the last two of these lie within the 2-arcmin NFI error circle (Gandolfi, GCN 373). We report these positions for the purpose of enabling observations at other wavelengths. We are making no claims at this time that any of these sources are the afterglow from GRB 990705. Further ATCA observations are planned to determine which, if any, of these sources are variable.

  AT J0509-7210 :  RA 05:09:56.97, DEC -72:10:13.8 (J2000)
  AT J0509-7209 :  RA 05:09:40.74, DEC -72:09:02.9 (J2000)
  AT J0509-7208 :  RA 05:09:46.33, DEC -72:08:56.8 (J2000)
  

• GCN notice #377
  E. Palazzi, N. Masetti, E. Pian, F. Frontera, L. Amati (ITESRE-CNR, Bologna), M. Mendez, P. Vreeswijk, E. Rol, T. Galama, F. van der Hooft, M. van der Klis, M. Heemskerk, (Univ. of Amsterdam), J. van Paradijs (U. of Amsterdam and U. of Alabama in Huntsville), L. Hunt (Astr. Obs. of Arcetri), L.A. Antonelli, G. Marconi (Astr. Obs. of Rome), E. Kuulkers (SRON, Utrecht), T. Augusteijn, H. Boehnhardt, C. Lidman, L. Vanzi (ESO), M. Feroci (IAS-CNR, Rome), and C. Kouveliotou (MSFC/NASA) report on behalf of a large collaboration:
  We have observed the error box of GRB990705 (BeppoSAX mail # 99/16 and 99/17) at the ESO NTT with SOFI in H filter for 20 minutes starting on July 5.94 UT and for 10 minutes starting on July 6.95 UT. An object of H = 16.7 +- 0.1 is detected in the first night at RA = 05 09 55.4, Dec = -72 08 01 (astrometric uncertainty of 1".5), and not in the second night, with a 3-sigma upper limit of H >~ 19. The position of the transient is consistent with that of the X-ray transient detected with the SAX NFIs (Gandolfi, GCN 373). We propose that the transient source is the infrared counterpart to GRB 990705. Assuming a power-law temporal fading, the measured magnitude and upper limit would imply that the decay index is < -1.4.
  In a 10-minutes exposure taken at the VLT with FORS1 in the V filter on July 6.40 UT in very bad seeing conditions (~2".5) the source is detected at 3-sigma confidence level with V ~22.5, linked to the standard sequence PG 2331+055 (Landolt 1992, AJ 104, 340).
  A 7.5-min exposure with the ESO 2.2m telescope at La Silla on July 6.44 UT yields no detection, to a 3-sigma limiting magnitude of B ~22, linked to the USNO-A1.0 star at RA = 05 09 42.59, Dec = -72 07 41.2 (J2000) which has B = 19.1.
• GCN notice #378
  K. Hurley, on behalf of the Ulysses GRB team, and M. Feroci, on behalf of the BeppoSAX GRB team, report:
  We have obtained a preliminary IPN annulus for GRB990705. This annulus is centered at RA=147.5135 deg., Decl.=-8.0335 deg. (J2000), and has a radius of 76.3049 +/- 0.0128 deg. (3 sigma). It intersects the BeppoSAX NFI error circle (GCN 373) to form a 5.4 arcmin.^2 error box whose corners are:

  RA(2000)        Decl.(2000)
  05h 09m 52.5s   -72o 09' 53"
  05h 09m 39.2s   -72o 06' 29"
  05h 10m 12.1s   -72o 09' 34"
  05h 09m 57.9s   -72o 05' 55"
  

  This error box excludes the three radio sources reported in GCN 376, but includes the ESO NTT source reported in GCN 377. A map may be found at ssl.berkeley.edu/ipn3/990705/. This annulus can be refined considerably.
• GCN notice #380
  K. Hurley, on behalf of the Ulysses GRB team, T. Cline, on behalf of the NEAR GRB team, and M. Feroci, on behalf of the BeppoSAX GRB team, report:
  NEAR observed GRB990705. Triangulation with NEAR, BeppoSAX, and Ulysses results in a ~3.5 arcmin.^2 error box which intersects the BeppoSAX NFI error circle. The preliminary 3 sigma error box coordinates are:

  RA(2000)        Decl.(2000)
  5h 09m 37.0s    -72o 05' 56"
  5h 09m 46.8s    -72o 08' 26"
  5h 09m 57.9s    -72o 05' 56"
  5h 10m 07.6s    -72o 08' 25" 
  

  As for the previous IPN localization (GCN 378), this error box includes the ESO NTT source reported in GCN 377. An updated map showing the three annuli which form the error box may found at ssl.berkeley.edu/ipn3/990705/.
• GCN notice #381
  J. Halpern (Columbia U.), G. Jacoby (NOAO), F. Frontera (ITESRE-CNR, Bologna), M. Feroci, E. Costa (IAS-CNR, Rome), and L. Piro (ITESRE-CNR, Frascati) report:
  We (GJ) observed the BeppoSAX NFI error circle of GRB 990705 (Gandolfi GCN #373) in the R band using the CTIO 1.5m telescope. A 10 minute exposure was obtained on July 7.44 UT in seeing of 1.4 arcsec, and 20 minutes were obtained on July 8.42 UT in seeing of 1.6 arcsec. At precisely the position quoted for the fading infrared transient (Palazzi et al. GCN #377), we see nothing to a 3-sigma limiting magnitude of R < 22.0 on July 7, and R < 22.3 on July 8. Photometric calibration was performed using the Landolt standard field of PG 0231+051. For reference we measure R = 16.45 for the neighboring USNO-A2.0 star at RA 05:09:53.822, Dec -72:08:26.04.
  The nearest R-band source to the IR transient is an extended or confused object (difficult to evaluate because of the high stellar density in this field) of core magnitude R = 19.70 +/- 0.05, which is also clearly visible on the ESO Sky Survey J plate. We measure its position, (J2000) RA 05:09:55.44, Dec -72:07:58.7, with respect to 40 stars from the USNO-A2.0 catalog having an rms error of 0.45 arcsec. Since this object is 2.3 arcsec north of the infrared transient, and since the IR position was reported with an uncertainty of 1.5 arcsec, more precise astrometry of the IR image would be desirable to register it with the optical and to investigate the relationship, if any, between these objects. It seems prudent, however, to presume that there is no connection.
• GCN notice #382
  E. Palazzi, N. Masetti, and E. Pian (ITESRE-CNR, Bologna) report:
  We have carefully checked the astrometry of the NTT+SOFI image taken on July 5.94 UT (Palazzi et al. GCN # 377), and have found that the correct coordinates of the IR transient are

  RA (2000) = 05 09 54.5, 
  Dec (2000) = -72 07 53
  

  The astrometric uncertainty is 0".5.
  The NTT+SOFI images relative to the IR transient detection (GCN # 377) can be viewed at http://tonno.tesre.bo.cnr.it/~masetti/grb990705.html and reproduced below.
  
  
  The infrared H-band counterpart of GRB990705 (marked with the green arrow) is clearly seen in the 1999 July 5.94 summed 20-min. image (top), while is almost under the detection threshold in the 1999 July 6.95 summed 10-min. image (bottom). North is to left, East is at bottom (rotated rightwards of 13 degrees); the field size is about 2'.5 x 2'.5.
• GCN notice #383/384
  L. Amati and F. Frontera, ITESRE, CNR, Bologna, L.A. Antonelli, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, G. Cusumano, IFCAI, CNR, G. Gandolfi and E. Costa, Palermo, M.R. Daniele, BeppoSAX SDC, Telespazio, Roma, and P. Giommi, BeppoSAX SDC, ASI, Rome. on behalf of the BeppoSAX Team report:
  The BeppoSAX NFIs observed the region of GRB990705 (IAUC 7218) from Jul 6.142 (11 hours after the BeppoSAX GRBM+WFC trigger) to Jul 8.096 UT for a total MECS on source exposure time of 78 ksec.
  A preliminary analysis of the data shows a strong and variable contamination of the field by stray radiation coming from LMC X-2, which lies just outside the detector field of view (52 arcmin from the center). A more refined analysis is required and at this stage we are not able to confirm the quick-look analysis detection reported in GCN #373.
• GCN notice #390
  Walter Fulgione, on behalf of the Large Volume Detector collaboration, report:
  Concerning the GRB990705 (BeppoSAX mail # 99/16 and 99/17): the LVD neutrino telescope in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory was running on July 5th, 16:01:25 UT and it has been steadily taking data since June 22nd, with an active scintillator mass of 573 ton.
  No evidence for any burst of neutrino interactions has been detected inside a 48 hours time interval around the GRB time.
  The data analysis on a wider time interval to find a possible weak signal or to establish the limit on the neutrino emission is in progress.
  Results will be published, as soon as possible, on LNGS Internal Report ( http://scienza98.lngs.infn.it/).
• GCN notice #753
  Stephen Holland (University of Aarhus), Michael Andersen (University of Oulu), Jens Hjorth, Johan Fynbo (University of Copenhagen), Gunnlaugur Bjornsson (University of Iceland), Bjarne Thomsen (University of Aarhus), Andreas Jaunsen (University of Oslo), Priya Natarajan (University of Cambridge, & Yale), and Nial Tanvir (University of Hertfordshire)
  We have obtained 8851 seconds of STIS images with the 50CCD (clear) aperture of the host galaxy of GRB 990705. This data was taken as part of the Survey of the Host Galaxies of Gamma-Ray Bursts (Holland et al. GCN 698) approximately 387 days after the burst. The drizzled, combined image is now available at http://www.ifa.au.dk/~hst/grb_hosts/data/index.html.
  Comparison with the H-band image of Masetti et al. (A&A, 354, 473, 2000) shows that the gamma-ray burst occurred at the position X = 1043 +- 2, Y = 1064 +- 2 in the drizzled STIS clear image. This is in the outskirts of a spiral arm, 0.9 arcsec west of the apparent nucleus of a face-on spiral galaxy. The galaxy appears to be of type Sc, possibly with a weak bar. It has an angular diameter of 5-6 arcsec, and contains several knots that may be star-forming regions. The magnitude of the galaxy within an aperture radius of 2 arcsec is V = 22.8 +- 0.2 after subtraction of foreground stars. The large angular extent of the host galaxy suggests that it is at fairly low redshift and that GRB 990705 may have been the second nearest GRB (next to GRB 980425/SN1998bw) that has been located up to now. An image of the host galaxy and the approximate location of the GRB is available at http://www.ifa.au.dk/~hst/grb_hosts/data/grb990705cd.gif and reproduced below.
  
  This image was made by drizzling all (13 images) of the STIS 50CCD (clear) data from GO-8640. The image size is 2048 x 2048 pixels, and the image scale is 0.0254 arcseconds per pixel. North is up and East is to the left. The total exposure time is 8851 seconds.
• GCN notice #1010
  VLT-FORS1 observations of the host galaxy of GRB 990705
  P. Saracco, G. Chincarini, S. Covino, G. Ghisellini, M. Longhetti, F. Zerbi (Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, Italy) D. Lazzati (Institute of Astronomy,Cambridge, UK) P. Severgnini (Osservatorio Astronomico di Arcetri, Firenze, Italy)
  We have obtained twelve 540-second dithered images in the Rc (Bessell) band centered on the position of GRB 990705. These images have been obtained from 20th to 28th December 2000 at the ESO-VLT UT1 telescope with FORS1 as a part of a survey of host galaxies (Saracco et al. 2000; Prog. ID: 66.B-0539(A)).
  Observations have been carried out under seeing conditions of 0.6-0.7 arcsec. The limiting magnitude reached on the final coadded image is Rc=26.6 (3 sigmas within the seeing disk). We confirm the presence of a late-type (Sc) galaxy located at the position of GRB 990705 as previously found by Holland et al. (2000; GCN #753).
  We measure a magnitude Rc=22.2(+-0.1) (galactic extinction A(R)=0.2) within an aperture radius of 2 arcsec. Considering the V-band aperture magnitude obtained by Holland et al. (GCN #753) we estimate for the host galaxy a color V-Rc=0.6(+-0.2). Given the large uncertainty in this estimate, such a color is consistent with that of an Sc galaxy at redshift z<1.3.
  This message can be cited.
• Accurate Redshift determination
  0.8424 ± 0.0002 (Le Floc'h et al. 2002, ApJ, 581, L81)