[vsnet-grb-info 2809] GRB 060203: P60 Confirmation of Optical Afterglow

[GCN Circulars]

TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  4646
SUBJECT: GRB 060203: P60 Confirmation of Optical Afterglow
DATE:    06/02/04 04:07:04 GMT
FROM:    S. Bradley Cenko at Caltech  <cenko at srl.caltech.edu>

S. B. Cenko, E. Ofek, A. M. Soderberg (Caltech), N. Cucchiara, D. B. Fox
(Penn State) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:

We have imaged the error circle of the possible Swift GRB060203
(Retter et al., GCN 4641) with the automated Palomar 60-inch
telescope.  Observations consisted of 5 x 150 images in the Kron R filter,
taken at a mean epoch of approximately 03:38 UT February 4th.

Inside the XRT error circle, we find the afterglow candidate proposed by
Malesani et al. (GCN 4645).  Furthermore, we find that since the
observations described in Piranomonte et al. (GCN 4643), the object has
faded.  The approximate magnitude in our images, calibrated with respect
to the USNOB-2 catalog, is 21.3 +/- 0.3.  We therefore conclude this
source is the optical afterglow of GRB060203.