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The bright optical afterglow of the nearby γ-ray burst of 29 March 2003

Nature volume 423, pages 844–847 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Past studies of cosmological γ-ray bursts (GRBs) have been hampered by their extreme distances, resulting in faint afterglows. A nearby GRB could potentially shed much light on the origin of these events, but GRBs with a redshift z ≤ 0.2 have been estimated to occur only rarely, about once per decade1. Here we report the discovery of the bright optical afterglow emission from the burst of 29 March 2003 (GRB030329; ref. 2). The brightness of the afterglow and the prompt report3 of its position resulted in extensive follow-up observations at many wavelengths, along with the measurement of the redshift, z = 0.169 (ref. 4). The γ-ray and afterglow properties of GRB030329 are similar to those of GRBs at cosmological redshifts. Observations have already identified the progenitor as a massive star that exploded as a supernova5,6.

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Figure 1: Discovery of the bright optical afterglow of GRB030329.
Figure 2: A snapshot spectral flux distribution of the afterglow of GRB030329.
Figure 3: Spectrum of the optical afterglow.
Figure 4: Light curve of the optical afterglow of GRB030329.

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Acknowledgements

P.A.P. and B.P.S. thank the ARC for supporting Australian GRB research. GRB research at Caltech is supported in part by funds from NSF and NASA. We are indebted to S. Barthelmy and the GCN, as well as the HETE-II team for prompt alerts of GRB localizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RSAA, ANU, Mt Stromlo Observatory, via Cotter Rd, Weston Creek, ACT, 2611, Australia

    P. A. Price, B. A. Peterson & B. P. Schmidt

  2. Caltech Optical Observatories 105-24, California Institute of Technology, California, 91125, USA

    D. W. Fox, S. R. Kulkarni, A. M. Soderberg, E. Berger, S. G. Djorgovski, A. W. Blain & S. C. Chapman

  3. Space Radiation Laboratory 220-47, California Institute of Technology, California, 91125, USA

    S. A. Yost & F. A. Harrison

  4. Theoretical Astrophysics 130-33, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91125, USA

    R. Sari

  5. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, PO Box 0, Socorro, New Mexico, 87801, USA

    D. A. Frail

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  1. P. A. Price
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Correspondence to P. A. Price.

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Price, P., Fox, D., Kulkarni, S. et al. The bright optical afterglow of the nearby γ-ray burst of 29 March 2003. Nature 423, 844–847 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01734

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