Abstract
γ-ray bursts (GRBs) have puzzled astronomers for almost three decades, primarily owing to the lack of identifications at other wavelengths. The detection of a radio counterpart1 enables application of the powerful technique of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) to this intriguing class of objects. Here we present VLBI monitoring of VLA J065349.4 + 791619 obtained between 8 and 25 days after the initial γ-ray burst. The radio emission is found to be very compact, with an angular extent of less than 1 milliarcsecond. We derive a position for the radio counterpart accurate to 200 microarcseconds, and constrain the proper motion of VLA J065349.4 + 791619 be less than 50 milliarcseconds per year. We place an upper limit on the annual parallax of 1 milliarcsecond. These results are entirely consistent with the expectations of cosmological models.
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Acknowledgements
The VLA and VLBA are facilities of the NSF operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. We thank the VLBA, VLA and Effelsberg operational staff, and the VLBA correlator staff, for their extraordinary efforts on behalf of this project. S.R.K. is supported by the NSF and NASA.
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Taylor, G., Frail, D., Beasley, A. et al. Position and parallax of the γ-ray burst of 8 May 1997. Nature 389, 263–265 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/38456
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/38456
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