TO: All GCN Sites 06 Nov 04 RE: Swift mission added to GCN INTRO: Some of you have been asking about what the GCN/Swift Notices will look like. This announcement starts the process of integrating Swift into GCN operations. This announcement talks about the GCN/Swift Notices types, their content, and their format. NOTICE TYPES: There are 21 different types of information from the Swift mission -- this is almost an order of magnitude more than any previous mission. And since some of these Notices are of a sufficiently different type of content than previous missions (ie images, spectra, etc), people may need to study the web pages carefully to determine which types are suitable for their specific operation. CONTENTS and FORMATS: A detailed description of the Swift Notices is contained in: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/swift.html and for the socket sites, the packets are defined in: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/sock_pkt_def_doc.html The Swift mission has packet types 60 through 83. The email/pager/cell sites are encouraged to also read the sock_pkt_def_doc web page, because the same fields that are in the socket packets also appear as the various "TOKEN: value" lines in the email-based distribution formats. Socket sites are also encouraged to look at the socket_demo program to understand the socket packet formats and the content -- there are generic packet unpacking routines therein. http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/socket_demo.c An example of the email-form of one of the Notice types is appended below. The formats and contents are not frozen at this time. There is still a few details to be worked out (eg the TBDs). During the first few weeks of the post-launch verification phase, some things may be learned which necessitate some tweaking of the basic formats and contents listed in the web pages. But for now, it is more than 98% complete and static. SCHEDULE: Even though the Swift launch is scheduled for no-earlier-than 17 Nov 2004, the GCN/Swift Notices (positions, images, spectra, & lightcurves) will not be immediately available. The Swift team will be performing an on-orbit check-out, during which the positions will not be made available to the public in real time. There are numerous cross-checks and calibrations that must be performed to guarantee the safety of the spacecraft & instruments and the accuracy of the burst Notices. After this check-out period, the positions (& the other information types) will be available and distributed through GCN. (The official check-out interval is 135 days, however the distribution of positions may happen sooner if the various instrument teams develop confidence in their instruments sooner.) During the 135-day check-out period, if a burst is determined by the science team to be of high enough confidence, then it will be distributed with some delay. SIGN-UP: Please do NOT send in your requests for sign-up just yet. There will be a separate sign-up announcement about 2-4 weeks after launch (ie still in the beginning of the verification phase). Sincerely, Scott Barthelmy NASA-GSFC, Code 661, Greenbelt, MD 20771 PHONE: 301-286-3106 (office) FAX: 301-286-1684 (1st choice, -1682 2nd choice) EMAIL: scott@lheamail.gsfc.nasa.gov PAGER: 3013134808@my2way.com (by email, ~200 characters/message) WEB: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn ////////////////////////////// email example ////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN/SWIFT NOTICE NOTICE_DATE: Fri 01 Oct 04 21:31:36 UT NOTICE_TYPE: Swift-BAT GRB Position TRIGGER_NUM: 100004, Seg_Num: 0 GRB_RA: 88.67d {+05h 54m 42s} (J2000), 88.68d {+05h 54m 44s} (current), 88.20d {+05h 52m 49s} (1950) GRB_DEC: -31.27d {-31d 16' 10"} (J2000), -31.27d {-31d 16' 09"} (current), -31.28d {-31d 16' 37"} (1950) GRB_ERROR: 4.00 [arcmin radius, statistical only] GRB_INTEN: 893 [cnts] Peak=123 [cnts/sec] BKG_INTEN: 364 [cnts] BKG_TIME: 77450.00 SOD {21:31:00.00} UT BKG_DUR: 16 [sec] GRB_DATE: 13186 TJD; 182 DOY; 04/06/30 GRB_TIME: 77478.27 SOD {21:31:18.27} UT GRB_PHI: 123.10 [deg] GRB_THETA: 11.54 [deg] TRIGGER_INDEX: 129 SOLN_STATUS: 3 RATE_SIGNIF: 12.31 [sigma] IMAGE_SIGNIF: 9.80 [sigma] MERIT_PARAMS: +1 -2 +3 -4 +5 -6 +7 -8 +9 -10 SUN_POSTN: 281.57d {+18h 46m 17s} -23.01d {-23d 00' 44"} SUN_DIST: 124.33 [deg] MOON_POSTN: 351.51d {+23h 26m 01s} -8.87d {-08d 52' 19"} MOON_DIST: 91.46 [deg] GAL_COORDS: 236.79,-25.03 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the burst (or transient) ECL_COORDS: 88.04,-54.70 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the burst (or transient) COMMENTS: SWIFT-BAT GRB Coordinates. COMMENTS: This is a rate trigger. COMMENTS: A point_source was found. COMMENTS: This does not match any source in the on-board catalog. COMMENTS: This is a GRB.