TO:  All GCN sites                                     28 Oct 06
RE:  New Notice Type: GRB Counterpart

INTRO:
There is a new notice type available.  It is called the GRB_COUNTERPART.
It contains the position of a GRB counterpart detected by a follow-up observer.

DETAILS:
If a follow-up observer (optical, radio, x/gamma-ray) detects the counterpart
to a GRB, they can now submit that detection and location to GCN
and it can then be distributed as a Notice to the rest of the GCN recipient list.
This is different than publishing the location in the Circulars, because
in Notice-form the counterpart position can be automatically used by the
robotic telescope sites to make further follow-up observations
(the robotic telescopes can not use RA,Dec locations contained in Circulars
without human intervention).

SIGN-UP:
If you want to receive this new Notice type, then send me email.
scott@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov
(Direct replies to this email go to another place and may not be noticed
for several days.)
Of course, you can take this opportunity to change anything in your configuration.
Mark up the changed fields in your confuration listed below, and send it
back to me. 

SUBMITTING A COUNTERPART:
But before sites will receive a GRB_COUNTERPART Notice, somebody must submit it to GCN.
This is done with the following procedure:

1) Go to the webpage entry form:  http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/submit_counterpart.html
2) Fill in the required fields (RA,Dec,Error, Mag/Intensity, Obs_time, etc).
3) Hit the "Submit" button.  You will be given a preview of the mail message.
   If it is okay, then hit the "Send" button. (If not, then "Back").
   This will cause a pre-formatted e-mail message to be mailed to you
   (to the address you specified above).
4) Re-email that message to vxw@capella.gsfc.nasa.gov
   with the Subject-line: GRB_COUNTERPART_SUBMISSION .
   (You can use the "bounce" command in your local e-mail reader utility, or forward it.
   However, be aware that the "forward" action in almost all e-mail programs
   will cause the original e-mail to be included with the original header and the body
   of the e-mail will be prefixed with "> " on each line.  Both of these MUST be edited out
   for the e-mail submission to be accepted by the GCN processing daemon;
   that is why "bounce" is easier than "forward".
5) The Counterpart submission message you send back will be checked against
   the GCN Circulars vetted list.  So for the process to work, you must be mailing
   from the same account@domain listed your Circulars entry.  The Counterpart Notice
   that is distributed to the world will have your name included.

EXAMPLE OF COUNTERPART NOTICE:
An example of a full-format email notice is shown below.  The other formats
(long/short pager, subject-line, and socket_packet formats) are of course also
available.
   TITLE:          GCN/GRB_COUNTERPART POSITION NOTICE
   NOTICE_DATE:    Wed 07 Oct 06 10:34:46 UT
   NOTICE_TYPE:    Optical
   TRIGGER_NUM:    123456
   CNTRPART_RA:    123.4560d {+08h 13m 49.4s} (J2000),
                   123.4588d {+08h 13m 50.1s} (current),
                   122.8101d {+08h 11m 14.4s} (1950)
   CNTRPART_DEC:    +1.2344d {+01d 14' 03.8"} (J2000),
                    +1.2337d {+01d 14' 01.4"} (current),
                    +1.3866d {+01d 23' 11.6"} (1950)
   CNTRPART_ERROR: 599.8 [arcsec, radius]
   GRB_DATE:       14015 TJD;   280 DOY;   06/10/07
   GRB_TIME:       36488.81 SOD {10:08:08.81} UT
   OBS_DATE:       14015 TJD;   280 DOY;   06/10/07
   OBS_TIME:       36518.00 SOD {10:08:38.00} UT
   OBS_DUR:        10.0 [sec]
   MAG:            16.5 +/- 1.0
   FILTER:         U
   SEEING:         1.5 [arcsec]
   TELESCOPE:      ROTSE
   SUBMITTER:      Eli_Rykoff
   SUN_POSTN:      202.82d {+13h 31m 16s}   -9.54d {-09d 32' 34"}
   SUN_DIST:        79.72 [deg]   Sun_angle= 5.3 [hr] (West of Sun)
   MOON_POSTN:     162.75d {+10h 51m 01s}   +8.81d {+08d 48' 28"}
   MOON_DIST:       39.84 [deg]
   MOON_ILLUM:     14 [%]
   GAL_COORDS:     221.51, 18.83 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the counterpart
   ECL_COORDS:     125.46,-18.18 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the counterpart
   COMMENTS:       GRB COUNTERPART Coordinates.  

EXPECTED OCCURANCE RATE:
How many of these Notices are you likely to receive?  This is a difficult question.
The ROTSE project is likely to be a significant generator of these counterpart
notices.  They expect they will produce ~3/yr of the fully automated (no humans 
in the loop) counterparts -- ie a ROTSE telescope responds to a burst-detection
notice from some mission, it makes follow-up observations, automated s/w finds 
an uncataloged star in the error circle of the burst, it sends a message
to the GCN system, which then imports it and distributes it to those sites
that have this GRB_COUNTERPART notice type enabled.  1-3 min total time delay;
and the confidence level of these automated detections is high.  Additionally,
the ROTSE team estimates that they will produce 5-10 more per year
that come from humans-in-the-loop analysis.  I can only estimate that the other
follow-up programs might generate somewhere in the range of 1-20 per year.

Sincerely,
Scott

Scott Barthelmy                      NASA-GSFC, Code 661, Greenbelt, MD   20771
PHONE:  301-286-3106                 (office)
PHONE:  301-346-3733                 (cell)
FAX:    301-286-1684                 (1st choice,  -1682 2nd choice)
EMAIL:  scott@lheamail.gsfc.nasa.gov
PAGER:  3013463733@mmode.com
WEB:    http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn