The discovery of an evolving dust-scattered X-ray halo around GRB 031203

We report the first detection of a time-dependent dust-scattered X-ray halo around a gamma-ray burst (GRB). GRB 031203 was observed by XMM-Newton starting 6 hr after the burst. The halo appeared as concentric ringlike structures centered on the GRB location. The radii of these structures increased with time as t[superscript 1/2], consistent with small-angle X-ray scattering caused by a large column of dust along the line of sight to a cosmologically distant GRB. The rings are due to dust concentrated in two distinct slabs in the Galaxy located at distances of 880 and 1390 pc, consistent with known Galactic features. The halo brightness implies an initial soft X-ray pulse consistent with the observed GRB.