GCN 43867: EP/WXT trigger 01709258681 (EP260227a?): LCO candidate afterglow

2026-02-27T23:33:12.312Z | rev 0 | event: EP260227a

R. A. J. Eyles-Ferris (Leicester), D. B. Malesani (DAWN/NBI and Radboud), A. Martin-Carrillo (UCD), J. N. D. van Dalen (Radboud), J. Chacón (PUC), report on behalf of a larger collaboration:

We observed the field of the EP/WXT trigger 01709258681 (likely EP260227a) using the Sinistro instrument on the 1-m telescope in Sutherland (South Africa), part of the LCO network. Six 300 s observations were secured in the SDSS r band, with mean time 2026 Feb 27.945 UT (2.47 hr after the WXT trigger).

Comparison of our images with archival templates from the Legacy Survey reveals a new object at coordinates (J2000):

RA = 14:52:19.94
Dec = -11:24:23.9

Photometry yields r = 20.18 +/- 0.04 (AB) calibrated against nearby stars from the Pan-STARRS catalog, and not corrected for Galactic extinction.

We suggest this is the optical counterpart of the EP/WXT trigger 01709258681.