GRB160228A

This page lists all entries on GRB160228A in GRBweb

Summary IPN Swift GCN 19107 GCN 19108 GCN 19110 GCN 19112 GCN 19113 GCN 19114 GCN 19117 GCN 19118 GCN 19119 GCN 19120 GCN 19121 GCN 19123 GCN 19186

Summary table
Variable Value Source
T0 17:34:32 UTC GCN_circulars,Swift Det
ra 107.3162° Swift
decl 26.9318° Swift
pos_error 2.07e-04° Swift
T90 98.36 s Swift
T90_start 17:34:32 UTC Swift
fluence 2.00e-06 erg/cm² Swift
redshift 1.6400
T100 98.36 s
GBM_located False
mjd 57446.73231481481 GCN_circulars,Swift Det
IPN table
GRB_name GRB160228A
ra 107.3208°
decl 26.9500°
pos_error 5.00e-02°
redshift 1.6400
Swift table
GRB_name GRB160228A
t_trigger 17:34:32 UTC
ra 107.3162°
decl 26.9318°
pos_error 2.07e-04°
T90 98.36 s
fluence 2.00e-06 erg/cm²
GCN 19107 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19107
Detection_method Swift Det
t_trigger 17:34:32 UTC
ra 107.3220°
decl 26.9560°
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19107 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 16/02/28 17:46:31 GMT FROM: Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), D. N. Burrows (PSU), N. P. M. Kuin (UCL-MSSL), A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), L. M. McCauley (PSU), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. G. R. Roegiers (PSU) and B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 17:34:32 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 160228A (trigger=676595). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 107.322, +26.956 which is RA(J2000) = 07h 09m 17s Dec(J2000) = +26d 57' 23" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve shows several separated peaks with a total duration of about 30 sec. The peak count rate was ~4200 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 17:35:45.5 UT, 73.1 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a bright, fading, uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 107.31671, 26.93103 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 07h 09m 16.01s Dec(J2000) = +26d 55' 51.7" with an uncertainty of 3.7 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 91 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the BAT error circle. This position may be improved as more data are received; the latest position is available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/sper. A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event data gives a column density consistent with the Galactic value of 9.03 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The initial flux in the 2.5 s image was 1.37e-09 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10 keV). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of nominal 150.000 seconds with the White filter starting 83 seconds after the BAT trigger. No credible afterglow candidate has been found in the initial data products. Data from the 2.7'x2.7' sub-image are not available at this time. The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated on-board covers 100% of the XRT error circle. The list of sources is typically complete to about 18 mag. No correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.06. Burst Advocate for this burst is D. Malesani (malesani AT dark-cosmology.dk). Please contact the BA by email if you require additional information regarding Swift followup of this burst. In extremely urgent cases, after trying the Burst Advocate, you can contact the Swift PI by phone (see Swift TOO web site for information: http://www.swift.psu.edu/too.html.)
GCN 19108 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19108
Detection_method Swift-XRT Other
ra 107.3162°
decl 26.9317°
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19108 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: Prompt enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 16/02/28 18:05:53 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester P.A. Evans (U. Leicester) reports on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: Using promptly downlinked XRT event data for GRB 160228A, we find an enhanced XRT position of the afterglow: RA, Dec: 107.3162, 26.9317 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000) = 07 09 15.90 Dec (J2000) = +26 55 54.0 with an uncertainty of 2.1 arcseconds (radius, 90% confidence). Analysis of the promptly available data is online at http://www.swift.ac.uk/sper/676595. Position enhancement is is described by Goad et al. (2007, A&A, 476, 1401) and Evans et al. (2009, MNRAS, 397, 1177). This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.
GCN 19110 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19110
Detection_method Swift-XRT Det
ra 107.3164°
decl 26.9317°
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19110 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: Enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 16/02/28 20:07:17 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester A.P. Beardmore, P.A. Evans, M.R. Goad and J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team. Using 732 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 1 UVOT images for GRB 160228A, we find an astrometrically corrected X-ray position (using the XRT-UVOT alignment and matching UVOT field sources to the USNO-B1 catalogue): RA, Dec = 107.31636, +26.93173 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 07h 09m 15.93s Dec (J2000): +26d 55' 54.2" with an uncertainty of 1.9 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence). This position may be improved as more data are received. The latest position can be viewed at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_positions. Position enhancement is described by Goad et al. (2007, A&A, 476, 1401) and Evans et al. (2009, MNRAS, 397, 1177). This circular was automatically generated, and is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.
GCN 19112 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19112
Detection_method Optical
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19112 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: optical observations DATE: 16/02/28 21:04:19 GMT FROM: Klaas Wiersema at U Leicester K. Wiersema (University of Leicester) reports on behalf of the Oadby Transients Team: We observed the field of GRB 160228A (Malesani et al. GCN 19107) using the 0.5m telescope at the observatory of the University of Leicester, at Oadby (UK). In a series of V band exposures, starting at 19:52 UT on 28 February 2016 (~2.3 hours after burst), we find no source in or near the XRT error circle (Beardmore et al. GCN 19110) to a limit of V<19.5 mag.
GCN 19113 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19113
Detection_method Swift-BAT Det
ra 107.3110°
decl 26.9460°
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19113 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: Swift-BAT refined analysis DATE: 16/02/29 04:53:26 GMT FROM: Amy Lien at GSFC M. Stamatikos (OSU), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), J. R. Cummings (GSFC/UMBC), N. Gehrels (GSFC), H. A. Krimm (GSFC/USRA), A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), C. B. Markwardt (GSFC), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (AGU), T. N. Ukwatta (LANL) (i.e. the Swift-BAT team): Using the data set from T-239 to T+963 sec from the recent telemetry downlink, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 160228A (trigger #676595) (Malesani et al., GCN Circ. 19107). The BAT ground-calculated position is RA, Dec = 107.311, 26.946 deg which is RA(J2000) = 07h 09m 14.6s Dec(J2000) = +26d 56' 45.3" with an uncertainty of 1.3 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment). The partial coding was 81%. The mask-weighted light curve shows a short spike from ~T0 to ~T+3 s, followed by an extended emission till ~T+120 s. This structure is similar to those short GRBs with extended emission (e.g., Norris et al. 2006). T90 (15-350 keV) is 98.36 +- 23.35 sec (estimated error including systematics). The time-averaged spectrum from T-0.01 to T+116.104 sec is best fit by a simple power-law model. The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is 1.31 +- 0.11. The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is (2.0 +- 0.1) x 10^-6 erg/cm2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T-0.01 sec in the 15-150 keV band is 1.2 +- 0.1 ph/cm2/sec. All the quoted errors are at the 90% confidence level. Moreover, spectral analyses for the short pulse and extended emission intervals show that the short pulse is harder than the extended emission. Both the short-pulse spectrum (T0-0.008 to T0+3.188 s) and the extended-emission spectrum (T0+3.188 to T0+116.104 s) are best fit by the simple power-law model, with the power-law index of (0.88 +/- 0.17) and (1.35 +/- 0.12), respectively. The results of the batgrbproduct analysis are available at http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/notices_s/676595/BA/
GCN 19114 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19114
Detection_method correction
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19114 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: GROND Afterglow Candidate DATE: 16/02/29 05:47:40 GMT FROM: Corentin Delvaux at MPE C. Delvaux, T. Schweyer (both MPE Garching), D. A. Kann (TLS Tautenburg), and J. Greiner (MPE Garching) report on behalf of the GROND team: We observed the field of GRB 160228A (Swift trigger 676595; Malesani et al., GCN #19107) simultaneously in g'r'i'z'JHK with GROND (Greiner et al. 2008, PASP 120, 405) mounted at the 2.2m MPG telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory (Chile). Observations started at 00:02 UT on 2016-02-29, 6.4h after the GRB trigger. They were performed at an average seeing of 1.2" and at an average airmass of 1.9. We detect a single source at the edge of the Swift-XRT error circle reported by Beardmore et al. (GCN #19110) at RA (J2000) = 07h09m15.82s Dec. (J2000) = +26d55'53.8" with an uncertainty of 0.2" in each coordinate. Based on 132 min of exposure in g'r'i'z' and 110 min in JHK, at a mid-time of 01:46 UT, we derive the following preliminary magnitudes and upper limits (in AB system): g' = 24.4 +/- 0.1 mag, r' = 24.4 +/- 0.1 mag, i' = 23.8 +/- 0.2 mag, z' = 24.1 +/- 0.3 mag, J > 22.3 mag, H > 21.6 mag, and K > 19.4 mag. We note the presence of a very close-by (separation < 2") extended bluish object, lying outside the Swift-XRT error circle, which could be the host galaxy of the candidate. Another host could be a larger, brighter galaxy lying at the north of the Swift-XRT error circle (separation ~ 6.6"). We found no evidence of fading of the candidate. Therefore, we cannot affirm the detected source is the optical afterglow. Given detections and upper limits are calibrated against GROND zeropoints as well as 2MASS field stars. No correction for the expected Galactic foreground extinction corresponding to a reddening of E_(B-V)=0.056 mag in the direction of the burst (Schlafly & Finkbeiner 2011) has been applied.
GCN 19117 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19117
Detection_method Swift-XRT Other
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19117 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 16/02/29 17:46:02 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), D.N. Burrows (PSU), A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester), P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), S.L. Gibson (U. Leicester), A. Maselli (INAF-IASFPA), A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), T.G.R. Roegiers (PSU) and D. Malesani report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 5.9 ks of XRT data for GRB 160228A (Malesani et al. GCN Circ. 19107), from 63 s to 40.4 ks after the BAT trigger. The data comprise 129 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode (the first 8 s were taken while Swift was slewing) with the remainder in Photon Counting (PC) mode. The enhanced XRT position for this burst was given by Beardmore et al. (GCN Circ. 19108). The light curve can be modelled with an initial power-law decay with an index of alpha=1.01 (+0.26, -0.32), followed by a break at T+125 s to an alpha of 2.94 (+0.16, -0.14). A spectrum formed from the WT mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.22 (+0.18, -0.16). The best-fitting absorption column is 2.6 (+1.8, -1.3) x 10^21 cm^-2, in excess of the Galactic value of 9.0 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The PC mode spectrum has a photon index of 1.63 (+0.30, -0.28) and a best-fitting absorption column of 1.8 (+1.4, -0.9) x 10^21 cm^-2. The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 4.4 x 10^-11 (5.2 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 1.8 (+1.4, -0.9) x 10^21 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 9.0 x 10^20 cm^-2 Excess significance: <1.6 sigma Photon index: 1.63 (+0.30, -0.28) If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of 2.94, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 7.1 x 10^-8 count s^-1, corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 3.1 x 10^-18 (3.7 x 10^-18) erg cm^-2 s^-1. The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00676595. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.
GCN 19118 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19118
Detection_method Optical
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19118 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: MASTER-Amur prompt observations DATE: 16/02/29 18:04:58 GMT FROM: Vladimir Lipunov at Moscow State U/Krylov Obs A.Gabovich, V.Yurkov, Yu.Sergienko, D.Varda Blagoveschensk Educational State University, Blagoveschensk V. Lipunov, E. Gorbovskoy, N.Tyurina, V.Kornilov, P.Balanutsa, A.Kuznetsov, D.Kuvshinov Lomonosov Moscow State University, Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University V.Krushinski, I.Zalozhnich, A. Popov Ural State University, Kourovka K.Ivanov, N.M.Budnev, O.Gres, V.A.Poleshchuk Irkutsk State University A. Tlatov, V.Senik, A.V. Parhomenko, D. Dormidontov Kislovodsk Solar Station of the Pulkovo Observatory MASTER-Amur robotic telescope (MASTER-Net: http://observ.pereplet.ru) located in Blagoveschensk was pointed to the GRB160228A 20 sec after notice time and 40 sec after trigger time at 2016-02-28 17:35:12 UT. On our first (10s exposure) set we haven't found optical transient within SWIFT error-box (Malesani et al., GCN 19107) and at GROND OT position (Delvaux et al., GCN 19114). The 5-sigma upper limit has been about 15.1 mag (unfilterd). We have 3 images during extended emission (Stamatikos et al., GCN 19113) with limit 15.2 . The message may be cited.
GCN 19119 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19119
Detection_method Swift-XRT Other
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19119 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: RATIR Optical and NIR Observations DATE: 16/02/29 18:20:16 GMT FROM: Nat Butler at UC berkeley Alan M. Watson (UNAM), Nat Butler (ASU), Alexander Kutyrev (GSFC), William H. Lee (UNAM), Michael G. Richer (UNAM), Ori Fox (STScI), J. Xavier Prochaska (UCSC), Josh Bloom (UCB), Antonino Cucchiara (GSFC/STScI), Eleonora Troja (GSFC), Owen Littlejohns (ASU), Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz (UCSC), José A. de Diego (UNAM), Leonid Georgiev (UNAM), Jesús González (UNAM), Carlos Román-Zúñiga (UNAM), Neil Gehrels (GSFC), Harvey Moseley (GSFC), John Capone (UMD), V. Zach Golkhou (ASU), and Vicki Toy (UMD) report: We observed the field of GRB 160228A (Malesani et al., GCN Circular 19107) with the Reionization and Transients Infrared Camera (RATIR; www.ratir.org) on the 1.5m Harold Johnson Telescope at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional on Sierra San Pedro Mártir from 2016/02 29.12 to 2016/02 29.38 UTC (9.23 to 15.50 hours after the BAT trigger), obtaining a total of 4.27 hours exposure in the r and i bands and 1.79 hours exposure in the Z, Y, J, and H bands. For a source within the Swift-XRT error circle, in comparison with the USNO-B1 and 2MASS catalogs, we obtain the following 3-sigma upper limits: r > 24.46 i > 24.39 Z > 23.21 Y > 22.76 J > 22.43 H > 22.10 These magnitudes are in the AB system and are not corrected for Galactic extinction in the direction of the GRB. We do not detect the candidate afterglow seen by Delvaux et al. (GCN Circ 19114) with GROND. Our upper-limits in rZJH are above their detections. However, there is weak evidence for fading in i, since GROND detected i = 23.8 ± 0.2 at about 7.5 hours and we obtain i > 24.4 at 12.4 hours. We see suggestions of the "extended bluish object” mentioned by Delvaux et al. in our r-band image. We also clearly detect the "larger, brighter galaxy” at 07:09:15.89 +26:55:59.3 (±0.5”) with: r = 22.64 ± 0.07 i = 22.17 ± 0.05 Z = 22.07 ± 0.13 Y = 21.69 ± 0.14 J = 21.60 ± 0.17 H = 21.64 ± 0.24 We thank the staff of the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional in San Pedro Mártir.
GCN 19120 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19120
Detection_method Optical
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19120 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: Mondy optcial observations DATE: 16/02/29 19:42:16 GMT FROM: Alexei Pozanenko at IKI, Moscow E. Mazaeva (IKI), E. Klunko (ISTP), A. Volnova (IKI), I. Korobtsev (ISTP), A. Pozanenko (IKI) report on behalf of larger GRB follow-up collaboration: We observed the field of Swift GRB 160228A (Malesani et al., GCN 19107) with AZT-33IK telescope of Sayan observatory (Mondy) starting on Feb.28 (UT) 18:31:31. Within enhanced XRT position (Beardmore et al., GCN 19110) we do not detect any optical object. In particular we do not detect candidate of optical afterglow (Delvaux et al., GCN 19114). We barely detect extended bluish object mentioned in (Delvaux et al., GCN 19114). Preliminary photometry of a combined image is following Date UT start t-T0 Filter Exp. UL (3sigma) (mid, days) (s) 2016-02-28 18:31:31 0.06044 R 60*60 22.2 Photometry is base on nearby USNO-B1.0 stars USNO-B.1_id R2 1169-0155723 18.59 1169-0155657 19.12 1169-0155662 18.92 1168-0146568 18.65 1169-0155709 19.49
GCN 19121 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19121
Detection_method Other
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19121 SUBJECT: GRB160228A: Further analyses on spectral lag and extended emission DATE: 16/02/29 20:21:35 GMT FROM: Amy Lien at GSFC J. P. Norris (BSU), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), N. Gehrels (GSFC), D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), T. Sakamoto (AGU), and E. Troja (GSFC/UMCP) report: We report on the spectral lag analysis of the initial pulse and extended emission measurements of GRB 160228A (Malesani et al., GCN Circ. 19107). Using a 32-ms binned light curve (which is the shortest time bin possible for the lag analysis in this case), the lag of the initial pulse (~T0 to ~T0+2 s) for the 100-350 keV to 25-50 keV bands is estimated as 75 (+100/-60) ms (with 1-sigma error). Despite the large error bars, the lag is inconsistent with zero, and thus the lag of the initial pulse is much more consistent with those from a long GRBs rather than short bursts (e.g., Norris et al. 2006). Moreover, further analysis of the initial pulse intensity shows that it is only a factor of several more intense than the extended emission in both the 1-s binned and 32-ms binned light curves, which is much less prominent than the usual short GRBs with extended emission (e.g., Norris et al. 2006).
GCN 19123 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19123
Detection_method Swift-UVOT Other
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19123 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits DATE: 16/02/29 22:50:24 GMT FROM: Frank Marshall at GSFC F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC) and D. Malesani (DARK/NBI) report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 160228A 83 s after the BAT trigger (Malesani et al., GCN Circ. 19107). No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position (Beardmore et al. GCN Circ. 19110) or the position of the GROND optical afterglow candidate (Delvaux et al. GCN Circ. 19114) is detected in the initial UVOT exposures. Preliminary 3-sigma upper limits using the UVOT photometric system (Breeveld et al. 2011, AIP Conf. Proc. 1358, 373) for the first finding chart (FC) exposures and subsequent exposures are: Filter T_start(s) T_stop(s) Exp(s) Mag white_FC 83 233 147 >20.2 u_FC 296 546 246 >19.5 white 83 10111 342 >20.5 v 625 5975 236 >19.0 b 551 6695 138 >19.8 u 296 6589 462 >20.2 w1 675 6385 235 >19.8 m2 650 6179 236 >19.9 w2 601 5770 235 >19.8 The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.06 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998).
GCN 19186 table
GRB_name GRB160228A
GCN_number 19186
Detection_method Optical
redshift 1.6400
Circular_text TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19186 SUBJECT: GRB 160228A: GROND afterglow confirmation and X-shooter host candidate redshift DATE: 16/03/14 17:46:43 GMT FROM: Thomas Kruehler at MPE Garching T. Kruehler (MPE Garching), D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), D. Xu (NAOC/CAS), J. Bolmer (MPE Garching), J. P. U. Fynbo, D. Perley (both DARK/NBI), D. A. Kann (TLS Tautenburg), J. Greiner and J. F. Graham (both MPE Garching) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We re-observed the field of GRB 160228A (Swift-trigger 676595, Malesani et al. GCN #19107) with GROND mounted at the 2.2m MPG telescope at ESO La Silla observatory. Simultaneous observations in seven filters (g'r'i'z'JHK) started at 01:13 UT on 2016-03-03 (80 h after the GRB) and consisted of images with a total integration time of 72 minutes in g'r'i'z' and 60 minutes in JHK. The source reported as candidate afterglow in our earlier imaging (Delvaux et al. GCN #19114) has faded beyond the detection limit of the new data (r' > 25.1 mag in the AB system), confirming it as the optical afterglow of GRB 160228A. The nearby source (angular separation of 1.7") mentioned in Delvaux et al. (GCN #19114) is still clearly present and located at RA (J2000) = 07:09:15.79 Dec. (J2000) = +26:55:52.4 with a preliminary brightness of r' = 24.2 +/- 0.3 mag. The chance coincidence probability of finding an unrelated object of this magnitude within a distance of 1.7" is 0.04 (following Bloom et al. 2002, AJ, 123, 1111), and we hence consider this object as a host galaxy candidate of GRB 160228A. While the chance coincidence probability is quite low, we note that the angular separation would be unusually large for long GRBs. A spectrum of the possible host was taken on 2016-03-12 with the VLT equipped with the X-shooter spectrograph. The spectrum covers the wavelength range 3000-20000 AA and has an exposure time of 4x1200 s. In the red part of the spectrum, we detect two emission lines which we interpret as [O III] (5007) and Halpha at a common redshift z = 1.64. We acknowledge excellent support from the observing staff at La Silla and Paranal, in particular Giovanni Carraro, Boris Haeussler, Jose Velasquez, and Willem-Jan de Wit.