WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN A BURST ALERT IS ACTIVATED...

The computer may make a noise, such as a TRAIN whistle!!

A burst alert message (see example) will pop up on the screen. This box contains several pieces of VERY IMPORTANT information, which may included:

The GRB id number (GRB are named by the UT date on which they occur so the GRB id will always be of the form "GRB YYMMDD")
The GRB coordinates. (You should only get burst alerts for GRBs that are currently visible (or soon visible) from CTIO but this system may not be perfect so always make sure coordinates are observable, i.e. not too low on the horizon.)
The ERROR on the GRB coordinates, generally the radius of the error circle around the stated coordinates. Some GRB coordinates will have large error (many degrees) while other coordinates will be more precise (GRB localized to within a few arcminutes).
The GRB time - this is the Universal Time (UT) at which the GRB was detected.
A comment about the extinction toward the burst (i.e. low or high reddening)
A comment about which telescope multi-observation script to run on the GRB (all the necessary .pro and .obs files will be available on your machine).

When you have read this information you can press the "OK" button to acknowledge that you have received the message. All the information contained in the alert pop-up box will also be sent to the e-mail address "observer (at) andicam . ctio . noao . edu". If you want to receive these e-mails at a different e-mail address go to the directory "/observer/JoshBloom/grb-watchd/config" and edit the file "user.config". Add any additional e-mail addresses (separated by a space) in the field "observers_email" as shown below:

observers_email = 'name1@email1.edu name2@email2.edu name3@email3.edu'

The burst alert may also automatically bring up a finding chart in DS9 (see example).

NOTE THAT NOT EVERY BURST ALERT WILL BE FOLLOWED UP WITH OBSERVATIONS!! See the next section for the observing protocol to follow once a burst alert has been triggered...

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