GOTO observations of GRB afterglows
One of the most successful efforts to date with our GOTO telescope network is the followup
and detection of gamma-ray burst afterglows. Our wide field of view is well suited to covering the relatively large Fermi localisation regions, and collaboration member Amit Kumar assembled a
comprehensive report on our
localization and multiband follow-up of seven Fermi/GBM and MAXI/GSC triggered long
GRBs: (240122A, 240225B, 240619A, 240910A, 240916A, 241002B, and 241228B) discovered by GOTO in 2024.
Observations and followup include optical spectroscopy, radio and X-ray detections to fully characterise these events.
Although their optical afterglows resemble those of typical long
GRBs, the prompt spectra are consistently harder than the long-GRB average. Monash PhD student Sergey Belkin contributed broad-band
afterglow modelling, to constrain
jet half-opening angles to a few degrees, and estimate beaming-corrected kinetic energies.
Amit's paper has now been published by MNRAS.