Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-kl2l2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-19T21:56:22.481Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observations of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source by the TOROS collaboration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2019

Lucas M. Macri Open the ORCID record for Lucas M. Macri [Opens in a new window] ,
Mario C. Díaz ,
Diego Garcia Lambas  and
the TOROS collaboration
Lucas M. Macri
Affiliation:
George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics & Astronomy, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA email: lmacri@tamu.edu
Mario C. Díaz
Affiliation:
Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Texas - Río Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX, USA
Diego Garcia Lambas
Affiliation:
IATE-OAC, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba-CONICET, Córdoba, Argentina
the TOROS collaboration
Affiliation:
George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics & Astronomy, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA email: lmacri@tamu.edu Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Texas - Río Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX, USA IATE-OAC, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba-CONICET, Córdoba, Argentina
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We present the results of prompt optical follow-up of the electromagnetic counterpart of GW170817 by the Transient Optical Robotic Observatory of the South Collaboration (TOROS). We detected highly significant dimming in the light curves of the counterpart over the course of only 80 minutes of observations obtained ~35 hr after the trigger with the T80-South telescope. A second epoch of observations, obtained ~59 hr after the event with the EABA 1.5m telescope, confirms the fast fading nature of the transient. The observed colors of the counterpart suggest that this event was a “blue kilonova” relatively free of lanthanides.

Keywords

Gravitational wavesstars: neutron

References

Abbott, B. P., et al. 2017, PRL 116, 061102Google Scholar
Colazo, C., et al. 2015, GRB Coordinates Network, Circular Service, 18338Google Scholar
Coulter, D. A., et al. 2017, GRB Coordinates Network, Circular Service, 21529Google Scholar
Díaz, M. C., et al. 2014, in Third “Hot-wiring the Transient Universe” Workshop, 225Google Scholar
Díaz, M. C., et al. 2016, ApJL 828, 16Google Scholar
Diaz, M. C. et al. 2017, ApJL 848, 29Google Scholar
Erwin, P. 2015, ApJ 799, 226Google Scholar
Kourkchi, E. & Tully, R. B. 2017, ApJ 843, 16Google Scholar
Macri, L. M., et al. 2015, AJ 149, 117Google Scholar
Metzger, B. D. 2017, LRR 20, 3Google Scholar
Stetson, P. B. 1987, PASP 99, 191Google Scholar
Stetson, P. B. 1994, PASP 106, 250Google Scholar
Tanaka, M., et al. 2018, ApJ 852, 109Google Scholar
Tonry, J. L., et al. 2012, ApJ 750, 99Google Scholar