Article

Observations of the Naked-Eye GRB 080319B: Implications of Nature’s Brightest Explosion

J. S. BloomDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAD. A. PerleyDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAW. LiDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAN. ButlerDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAAdam A. MillerDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAD. KocevskiDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAД. А. КаннThüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Sternwarte 5, D-07778 Tautenburg, GermanyR. J. FoleyDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAH. -w. ChenDepartment of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USAD. StarrDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAB. MacomberDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAJ. X. ProchaskaDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAR. ChornockUniversity of California Observatories/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USAD. PoznanskiDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAS. KloseDepartment of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USAThüringer Landessternwarte TautenburgThüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Sternwarte 5, D-07778 Tautenburg, Germany

2013en

ABI

Abstract

The first gamma-ray burst (GRB) confirmed to be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, GRB 080319B, allowed for exquisite follow-up across the electromagnetic spectrum. We present our detailed optical and infrared observations of the afterglow, consisting of over 5000 images starting 122 s after the GRB trigger, in concert with our own analysis of the Swift UVOT, BAT, and XRT data. The event is extreme not only in observed properties but intrinsically: it was the most luminous ever recorded at optical wavelengths and had an exceedingly high isotropic-equivalent energy release in γ-rays. At early times, the afterglow evolution is broadly consistent with being reverseshock dominated, then is subsumed by a forward shock at around 1000 s. Analysis of the forward shock suggests that the remarkable energetics of this burst may be owed largely to extreme collimation. The spectral energy distribution, spanning from ultraviolet through near-infrared, shows no evidence for a significant amount of dust extinction in the host frame. We do find significant color evolution in the optical afterglow: starting at about 1000 s the index shifts blueward before apparently shifting back to the red at

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