A GRB Follow-up System at the Xinglong Observatory and Detection of the High-Redshift GRB 060927

Abstract

A gamma-ray burst (GRB) optical photometric follow-up system at the Xinglong Observatory of National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) has been constructed. It uses the 0.8-m Tsinghua-NAOC Telescope (TNT) and the 1-m EST telescope, and can automatically respond to GRB Coordinates Network (GCN) alerts. Both telescopes slew relatively fast, being able to point to a new target field within ∼1 min upon a request. Whenever available, the 2.16-m NAOC telescope is also used. In 2006 the system responded to 15 GRBs and detected seven early afterglows. In 2007 six GRBs have been detected among 18 follow-up observations. TNT observations of the second most distant GRB 060927 (z = 5.5) are shown, which started as early as 91 s after the GRB trigger. The afterglow was detected in the combined image of the first 19×20 s unfiltered exposures. This GRB follow-up system has joined the East-Asia GRB Follow-up Observation Network (EAFON).