Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published March 20, 2003 | public
Journal Article

Early optical emission from the γ-ray burst of 4 October 2002

Abstract

Observations of the long-lived emission—or 'afterglow'—of long-duration gamma-ray bursts place them at cosmological distances, but the origin of these energetic explosions remains a mystery. Observations of optical emission contemporaneous with the burst of gamma-rays should provide insight into the details of the explosion, as well as into the structure of the surrounding environment. One bright optical flash was detected during a burst, but other efforts have produced negative results. Here we report the discovery of the optical counterpart of GRB021004 only 193 seconds after the event. The initial decline is unexpectedly slow and requires varying energy content in the y-ray burst blastwave over the course of the first hour. Further analysis of the X-ray and optical afterglow suggests additional energy variations over the first few days.

Additional Information

© 2003 Nature Publishing Group. Received 12 December 2002; Accepted 19 February 2003. We thank D. L. Kaplan and C. Trujillo for assistance with supporting observations at Palomar and R. D. Blandford for discussions. The results presented in this paper are based on data obtained using the NASA-JPL CCD camera at the Oschin Telescope, Palomar Observatory, California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The research was performed in part by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). γ-ray burst research at Caltech is supported in part by funds from NSF and NASA.

Additional details

Created:
August 23, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023