TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  8601
SUBJECT: GRB081203A:  Swift/UVOT grism redshift
DATE:    08/12/03 19:36:15 GMT
FROM:    Wayne Landsman at GSFC/SSAI  <wayne.b.landsman@nasa.gov>

W. Landsman (NASA/GSFC), M.  DePasquale(MSSL),  P. Kuin (MSSL),   P. 
Schady (MSSL),  P. Smith (MSSL), and A.Parsons (NASA/GSFC) report 
on behalf of the  Swift/UVOT team:

The Swift/UVOT obtained a 49s  UV grism spectrum of GRB 081203A starting 
249 s after the  BAT trigger (Parsons et al. GCN.8595).     The  
spectrum covers the wavelength range from 2000-4900 A.      Longward of  
2850 A in the 
quicklook spectrum there is an approximately flat  continuum  of  
2.5e-14 erg s-1 cm-2 A-1 with a strong absorption at 3850 A.  If the 
2850 A cutoff is identified with the Lyman edge, and the 3850 A  
absorption with Lyman alpha, then the redshift of  GRB081203A is 
~2.1.    Analysis is continuing.