Precise GRB source locations from the renewed interplanetary network

¹ NASA-GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, U.S.A.
² UCB-SSL, Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A.
³ APL, Laurel, MD 20723, U.S.A.
⁴ Ioffe PTI, St. Petersburg, 194021 Russia, U.S.A.
⁵ NASA-MSFC, Huntsville, AL 35812, U.S.A.

Send offprint request to: T.L. Cline

Received: 29 December 1998
Accepted: 24 February 1999

Abstract

A new interplanetary network (IPN) is made possible by the modification of the NEAR mission, now at 2 AU distance. With Ulysses and the near-Earth GRB monitors, this fully long-baseline network will produce GRB localizations at a rate of about one per week, with accuracies varying from several to tens of arc minutes. Given the delays inherent in the collection of deep space data, high-precision alerts with delays under one day should be possible at a rate of one to several per month. An automatic analysis system is being developed to optimize the process.