The MAGIC Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope performed a follow-up observation of the SWIFT-BAT burst GRB 061217 (GCN circular GCN 5926, Barthelmy S.D. et al.). We received the GCN alert at T0+13s, however, because of observation constraints, data taking with MAGIC started at T0+773s, when the GRB zenith angle reached 60 degree. The observation continued for 66min....Full Text

0 Revisions

The XRT astrometry is replaced by the new position corrected for the effect of the hot column. The new host candidate, its redshift, and corresponding Eiso are added. The paragraph about a nearby source classified as galaxy by the SuperCosmos is removed. In the deeper observations by the Magellan telescope this source has a stellar point spread function (Berger et al.GCN 5950).

1 Introduction

BAT triggered on GRB 061217 at 03:40:08.21 UT (Trigger 251634) (Barthelmy , et al., GCN 5926). This was a 0.256 sec rate-trigger on a short hard burst with T90 = 0.212 sec. Swift slewed to this burst immediately and XRT began follow-up observations at T + 67 sec. At the moment of slew, UVOT was in safe mode. Our best position, extracted from the XRT full data and including correction for new hot pixels (Evans, et al.GCN 5947) is the XRT location RA(J2000) = 160.4129deg (10h41m39.1), Dec(J2000) = -21.1241deg (-21d07 26.9") with an error of 6.0 arcsec (90% confidence). This position is at 0.8 arcsec from the candidate host galaxy detected by the Magellan telescope (Berger et al., GCN 5949 and GCN 5965). At this redshift, Eiso of this burst is 8 × 1049 ergs.

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"We obtained a 2100 sec spectrum of the putative host galaxy of the short GRB 061217 (GCN 5949). We clearly detect the [OII]3727 and [OIII]5007 emission lines at a redshift of z=0.827. The relative faintness of the host and the higher redshift compared to early short GRBs provides additional support to the conclusion that a substantial fraction of short GRBs arise at z~1 (Berger et...Full Text

We centroid on a faint and fading source 20" away from the initial refined XRT team position (GCN 5932). Using 6 optical/X-ray matches, we find an astrometry corrected position (v2.9) relative to 2MASS of: ...Full Text

"We have revised the R band images obtained from the 3.5m telescope (+PMAS) at Calar Alto (Jelínek et al. GCN 5933) and we detect an object in the refined error box of XRT (Evans et al GCN 5932) at the following coordinates (J2000) with an uncertainty of 0.5": ...Full Text

"The object proposed as the host galaxy of GRB 061217 in GCN 5948 (located 11 arcsec from the revised XRT position), appears to have a stellar point spread function in both our IMACS (GCN 529) and LDSS3 (GCN 5949) images. We re-iterate the presence of an extended object within the XRT error circle (GCN 5949)." ...Full Text

"We observed the location of GRB 061217 with LDSS3 on the Magellan 6.5-m telescpe starting on 2006 Dec. 21.36 UT in r-band. In a single 300 sec exposure with 0.55" seeing we clearly detect an extended object (G1) within the revised XRT position (GCN 5947) at: ...Full Text

GRB 061217 was a short hard burst without any detected optical afterglow by Swift or ground follow-ups. There is a source at ~11 arcsec from the new XRT position (Evans, et al GCN 5947) in the SuperCosmos catalogue and is classified as a galaxy. Its position: ...Full Text

The XRT position of GRB 061217 reported in GCN 5932 was incorrect due to analysis of the early XRT data being compromised by the faintness of the source and its proximity to the hot columns. Having reprocessed the complete set of XRT observations of GRB 061217, we find the corrected position to be: ...Full Text

We imaged the field of GRB 061217 detected by SWIFT (trigger 251634) with the TAROT robotic telescope (D=25cm) located at the Calern observatory, France....Full Text

We performed a small set of short exposures with the VLT equipped with the ISAAC camera on the field of the short GRB 061217 (Barthelmy et al., GCN 5926). Our observations started on Dec 18.262 UT (about 1.1 d after the burst). While we clearly detect the four point-like objects reported by Cobb et al. (GCN 5935), we do not detect any candidate for the host galaxy of GRB 061218 inside...Full Text

Using the ANDICAM instrument on the 1.3m telescope at CTIO, we obtained optical/IR imaging of the error region of GRB 061217 (GCN 5926, Barthelmy et al.) with a mid-exposure time of 2006-12-17 05:50:32 UT, which is ~2.2 hours post-burst. Total summed exposure times amounted to 15 minutes in I and V and 12 minutes in J and K. Unfortunately, our images were centered on the initial BAT GRB coordinates...Full Text

The Swift/UVOT began observing the field of the short GRB GRB 061217 4917 seconds after the BAT trigger (Barthelmy et al., GCN 5926). No optical afterglow candidate is detected in the XRT error circle of source S1, the likely X-ray afterglow reported by Evans et al. GCN 5932, in the first V and White exposures or in the coadded ones. We quote 3-sigma magnitude upper limits....Full Text

"Following the detection by SWIFT of the short-duration GRB 061217 (Barthelmy et al. GCN 5926, Parsons et al. GCN 5930), we have obtained BVR images at the 3.5m telescope (+PMAS) at the German-Spanish Calar Alto Observatory. They were taken starting on Dec 17.1796 UT (i.e. 38 min post-burst), under good seeing conditions (1".0). ...Full Text

We have analysed the first 4 orbits (up to 17ks after the trigger) of Swift-XRT data obtained for GRB 061217 (Barthelmy et al. GCN circ, GCN 5926) Using ~7.3ks of Photon Counting (PC) data, we find a fading source at ...Full Text

After several more downlinks, the complete data set has arrived for BAT GRB 061217 (trigger #251634) (Barthelmy, et al., GCN 5926 and Parsons, et al,, GCN 5930). Spanning T-120 to T+180 sec, there is no evidence for pre-trigger activity or post-trigger activity....Full Text

Using the a limited data set from T-10 to T+57 sec from the recent telemetry downlink, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 061217 (trigger #251634) (Barthelmy, et al., GCN 5926). The BAT ground-calculated position is RA, Dec = RA 160.418, DEC -21.148 deg which is ...Full Text

"We observed the error circle of GRB 061217 (GCN 5926) with IMACS on the Magellan 6.5-m telescope for a total of 600 sec in R-band starting on 2006 Dec. 17.27 UT. A comparison to DSS reveals no new object to the limit of the Sky Survey. We note the presence of a compact galaxy group at: ...Full Text

We observed the field of GRB 061217 (Barthelmy et al. GCN 5926) with the robotic 60-cm REM telescope located at La Silla (Chile). A set of observations was performed automatically in the optical and near infrared filters (V, R, I and J, H, K, z) starting on 2006 December 17 at 03:40:56 UT, 35 s after the BAT trigger and 48 s after the GRB time....Full Text

ROTSE-IIId, located at the Turkish National Observatory at Bakirlitepe, Turkey, responded to GRB 061217 (Swift trigger 251634), producing images beginning 6.3 s after the GCN notice time. An automated response took the first image at 03:40:26.3 UT, 18.1 s after the burst, under excellent conditions. We took 10 5-sec, 10 20-sec and 20 60-sec eposures. These unfiltered images are calibrated...Full Text