Abstract
The Imaging Compton Telescope (COMPTEL) on board the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory regularly observes gamma‐ray bursts which occur inside the instrument’s ∼1 sr field‐of‐view. COMPTEL images bursts in the 0.75–30 MeV energy range with a typical location accuracy of 1–3 degrees, depending on burst strength, position, duration, and spectrum. COMPTEL’s imaging capability has been exploited in order to search for fading gamma‐ray burst counterparts at other wavelengths through the establishment of a BATSE/COMPTEL/NMSU rapid burst response campaign. This campaign utilizes near real‐time identification and preliminary burst location by BATSE, accelerated COMPTEL imaging, and a world‐wide network of observers to search COMPTEL error boxes as quickly as possible. Timely, deep searches for lingering counterpart emission of several bursts per year are the realized goal of this campaign. During its first year of operation, the rapid response program has been successfully applied to two strong bursts: GRB 930131 and GRB 930309. These bursts were imaged in record time only hours after their occurrence. Subsequently, several observations were made at radio and optical observatories world‐wide.
Department
Space Science Center, Physics
Publication Date
1994
Journal Title
AIP Conference Proceedings
Publisher
AIP Publishing
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1063/1.45908
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Recommended Citation
First results of the BATSE/COMPTEL/NMSU rapid burst response campaign Kippen, R. M. and Connors, A. and Macri, J. and McConnell, M. and Ryan, J. and Collmar, W. and Greiner, J. and Schönfelder, V. and Varendorff, M. and Fishman, G. J. and Meegan, C. and Kouveliotou, C. and McNamara, B. and Harrison, T. and Hermsen, W. and Kuiper, L. and Bennett, K. and Hanlon, L. and Winkler, C., AIP Conference Proceedings, 307, 418-422 (1994), DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.45908
Rights
© 1994 American Institute of Physics