GRB 981220

D. A. Smith (MIT) reports on behalf of the RXTE/ASM Team at MIT and NASA/GSFC:

(See GCN Circ. 159)

The RXTE All-Sky Monitor has detected a hard X-ray flare, beginning within a few seconds of 1998 December 20, 21:52:21 (UTC) and lasting for about 20 s. The flare consisted of a single symmetric peak that reached a maximum flux (1.5-12 keV; 1-s bins) of 1.2+-0.1x10^-7 erg cm^-2 s^-1.

The event was detected in a single camera and was localized to an error box 5.0' x 60.0' (full width; 90% confidence including a rough estimate of systematic error due to calibration drift), centered on the position: R.A. = 03h43m01s, Decl. = +17o09'.0 (J2000.0) at a position angle of 75.54 degrees east of north. This position is inconsistent with any known X-ray sources.

Kevin Hurley et al. report an IPN annulus in GCN Circular 160. This annulus is centered at RA(2000)=347.373 degrees, Decl(2000)=+7.336 degrees, with a radius 67.134 +/- 0.020 degrees (3 sigma). The ~2.4' x 4.5' intersection error box with approximately 11 sq. arcmin. area is defined by the four corners: 

RA(2000)        Decl(2000)

3h 42m 28.5s    17o 06.3'
3h 42m 29.0s    17o 11.1'
3h 42m 39.0s    17o 11.6'
3h 42m 38.5s    17o 06.8'

See also the IPN archives for further information, under 981220.

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